Can Xu

Atomic state and characterization of nitrogen at the SiC/SiO2 interface

We report on the concentration, chemical bonding, and etching behavior of N at the SiC(0001)/SiO2 interface using photoemission, ion scattering, and computational modeling. For standard NO processing of a SiC MOSFET, a sub-monolayer of nitrogen is found in a thin inter-layer between the substrate and the gate oxide (SiO2). Photoemission shows one main nitrogen related core-level peak with two broad, higher energy satellites. Comparison to theory indicates that the main peak is assigned to nitrogen bound with three silicon neighbors, with second nearest neighbors including carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. Surprisingly, N remains at the surface after the oxide was completely etched by a buffered HF solution. This is in striking contrast to the behavior of Si(100) undergoing the same etching process. We conclude that N is bound directly to the substrate SiC, or incorporated within the first layers of SiC, as opposed to bonding within the oxide network. These observations provide insights into the chemistr...

Phospho-silicate glass gated 4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor devices: Phosphorus concentration dependence

The correlation between phosphorus concentration in phospho-silicate glass (PSG) gate dielectrics and electrical properties of 4H-SiC MOS devices has been investigated. Varying P uptake in PSG is achieved by changing the POCl3 post-oxidation annealing temperature. The density of interface traps (Dit) at the PSG/4H-SiC interface decreases as the amount of interfacial P increases. Most significantly, the MOSFET channel mobility does not correlate with Dit for all samples, which is highly unusual for SiC MOSFETs. Further analysis reveals two types of field-effect mobility (μfe) behavior, depending on the annealing temperature. Annealing at 1000 °C improves the channel mobility most effectively, with a peak value ∼105 cm2 V−1 s−1, and results in a surface phonon scattering limited mobility at high oxide field. On the other hand, PSG annealed at other temperatures results in a surface roughness scattering limited mobility at similar field.

Concentration, chemical bonding, and etching behavior of P and N at the SiO2/SiC(0001) interface

Phosphorous and nitrogen are electrically active species at the SiO2/SiC interface in SiC MOSFETs. We compare the concentration, chemical bonding, and etching behavior of P and N at the SiO2/SiC(0001) interface using photoemission, ion scattering, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Both interfacial P and N are found to be resistant to buffered HF solution etching at the SiO2/SiC(0001) interface while both are completely removed from the SiO2/Si interface. The medium energy ion scattering results of etched phosphosilicate glass/SiC not only provide an accurate coverage but also indicate that both the passivating nitrogen and phosphorus are confined to within 0.5 nm of the interface. Angle resolved photoemission shows that P and N are likely situated in different chemical environments at the interface. We conclude that N is primarily bound to Si atoms at the interface while P is primarily bound to O and possibly to Si or C. Different interface passivating element coverages and bonding configurations on di...

Water absorption in thermally grown oxides on SiC and Si: Bulk oxide and interface properties

We combine nuclear reaction analysis and electrical measurements to study the effect of water exposure (D2O) on the n-type 4H-SiC carbon face (000 1¯) MOS system and to compare to standard silicon based structures. We find that: (1) The bulk of the oxides on Si and SiC behave essentially the same with respect to deuterium accumulation; (2) there is a significant difference in accumulation of deuterium at the semiconductor/dielectric interface, the SiC C-face structure absorbs an order of magnitude more D than pure Si; (3) standard interface passivation schemes such as NO annealing greatly reduce the interfacial D accumulation; and (4) the effective interfacial charge after D2O exposure is proportional to the total D amount at the interface.

Disorder-driven topological phase transition in Bi2Se3 films

Topological insulators (TI) are a phase of matter that host unusual metallic states on their surfaces. Unlike the states that exist on the surface of conventional materials, these so-called topological surfaces states (TSS) are protected against disorder-related localization effects by time reversal symmetry through strong spin-orbit coupling. By combining transport measurements, angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy, we show that there exists a critical level of disorder beyond which the TI Bi2Se3 loses its ability to protect the metallic TSS and transitions to a fully insulating state. The absence of the metallic surface channels dictates that there is a change in material’s topological character, implying that disorder can lead to a topological phase transition even without breaking the time reversal symmetry. This observation challenges the conventional notion of topologically-protected surface states, and will provoke new studies as to the fundamental nature of topological phase of matter in the presence of disorder.

Temperature dependent Cs retention, distribution, and ion yield changes during Cs+ bombardment SIMS

Combining Cs+ bombardment with positive secondary molecular ion detection (MCs+) can extend the analysis capability of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) from the dilute limit (<1 at. %) to matrix elements. The MCs+ technique has had great success in quantifying the sample composition of III–V semiconductors. However, the MCs+ has been less effective at reducing the matrix effect for group IV materials, particularly Si-containing compounds. The lack of success in quantifying group IV materials is primarily attributable to the high Cs surface concentrations overloading the sample surface and lowering ion yields. The Cs overload issue is caused by the mobility and relocation of the implanted Cs to the surface during an analysis. Critical to understanding the material-dependent success of the MCs+ technique and elucidating the Cs mobility is understanding how Cs is incorporated and distributed into the sample and how the Cs surface concentration affects the ionization processes. The authors provide both ...

Nonuniform Composition Profiles in Amorphous Multimetal Oxide Thin Films Deposited from Aqueous Solution

Metal oxide thin films are ubiquitous in technological applications. Often, multiple metal components are used to achieve desired film properties for specific functions. Solution deposition offers an attractive route for producing these multimetal oxides because it allows for careful control of film composition through the manipulation of precursor stoichiometry. Although it has been generally assumed that homogeneous precursor solutions yield homogeneous thin films, we recently reported evidence of nonuniform electron density profiles in aqueous-deposited films. Herein, we show that nonuniform electron densities in lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO) thin films are the result of inhomogeneous distributions of metal components. Specifically, La aggregates at the film surface, whereas Zr is relatively evenly distributed throughout single-layer films. This inhomogeneous metal distribution persists in stacked multilayer films, resulting in La-rich interfaces between the sequentially deposited layers. Testing of metal-insulator-semiconductor devices fabricated from single and multilayer LZO films shows that multilayer films have higher dielectric constants, indicating that La-rich interfaces in multilayer films do not detrimentally impact film properties. We attribute the enhanced dielectric properties of multilayer films to greater condensation and densification relative to single-layer films, and these results suggest that multilayer films may be preferred for device applications despite the presence of layering artifacts.

Deuterium absorption from the D2O exposure of oxidized 4H-SiC (0001), ( 0001¯), and ( 112¯0) surfaces

We report results on deuterium absorption on several oxidized 4H-SiC surfaces following D2O vapor absorption. Absorption at the oxide/semiconductor interface is strongly face dependent with an order of magnitude more deuterium on the C-face and a-face than on the Si-face, in contrast to the bulk of the oxides which show essentially no face dependence. Annealing in NO gas produces a large reduction in interfacial deuterium absorption in all cases. The reduction of the positive charge at the interface scales linearly with the interface D content. These results also scale with the variation in interface trap density (Dit) and mobility on the three faces after wet oxidation annealing.