Surfaces and Interfaces of Group-IV Semiconductors

Abstract:

Apparently, silicon-a group-IV semiconductor is the basis of the multi-billion dollar industry of microelectronics. On the other hand, our knowledge on almost every aspect of group-IV semiconductor surfaces and interfaces is quite incomplete. Thereby, by means of scanning tunneling microscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, and Auger electron spectroscopy, a systematic investigation on the surfaces and interfaces has been carrying out in a bid to gain a more comprehensive understanding of them. In the investigation more effort has been put on germanium surfaces because they have been, from the basic scientific point of view, unfairly neglected. As a result, the atomic structure of the most stable high- index surface Ge(113) and several others, such as Ge(103), (216), and (105), has been determined. It has been found that not only the adatoms on Ge(111) but also, surprisingly, the subsurface interstitial atoms of Ge(113) are able to migrate at room temperature, and the activation energy of the migrations has also been determined with a high precision. In the interface aspect, the three common characteristics of the III/IV interfaces, the prototype of group-IV interfaces, have been disclosed for the first time.

Key words:

scanning tunneling microscopy; germanium; silicon; high-index surfaces; metal/semiconductor interfaces

To Total contents......To Contents(Physics)