Atomic force microscopy and high-resolution RBS investigation of the surface modification of magnetron sputter-etched Si(111) in an argon plasma at different pressures
✍ Scribed by Deenapanray, P. N. K.; Hillie, K. T.; Demanet, C. M.; Ridgway, M. C.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 353 KB
- Volume
- 27
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0142-2421
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✦ Synopsis
The surface morphology and metallic contamination of magnetron sputter-etched Si(111) was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) as a function of Ar plasma pressure. The root-mean-square roughness (R rms ) of plasma-etched Si decreased monotonically from 36 ± 28 Å at 2 × 10 -3 mbar to 13 ± 6 Å at 2 × 10 -2 mbar. High-resolution RBS showed that metallic impurity contamination increased with increasing plasma pressure, whereas Ar atom incorporation in the near-surface region of etched Si followed the opposite pressure dependence. The barrier height of Pd Schottky contacts fabricated on the etched n-Si also decreased monotonically with decreasing Ar pressure, showing that the extent of barrier height modification was not affected by metallic impurity contamination. High-resolution RBS combined with channelling experiments showed that the topmost layers of the plasma-etched samples were disordered. The thickness of the damaged layers decreased with increasing plasma pressure.