A Diamond Electrochemical Cleaning Technique for Organic Contaminants on Silicon Wafer Surfaces

Peroxodiphosphate anion （a powerful oxidant） can be formed in a special water-based cleaning agent through an electrochemical reaction on boron-doped diamond electrodes. This electrochemical reaction was applied during the oxidation,decomposition, and removal of organic contaminations on a silicon wafer surface, and it was used as the first step in the diamond electrochemical cleaning technique （DECT）. The cleaning effects of DECT were compared with the RCA cleaning technique, including the silicon surface chemical composition that was observed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the morphology observed with atomic force microscopy. The measurement results show that the silicon surface cleaned by DECT has slightly less organic residue and lower micro-roughness,so the new technique is more effective than the RCA cleaning technique.

First-principles Study on Geometric and Electronic Structures of Si（111）-√7× √3-In Surface Reconstruction

In order to determine the structures of Si（111）-√7 √3-In surfaces and to understand their electronic properties, we construct six models of both hexagonal and rectangular types and perform first-principles calculations. Their scanning tunneling microscopic images and work functions are simulated and compared with experimental results. In this way, the hex-H3＇ and rect-T1 models are identified as the experimental configurations for the hexagonal and rectangular types, respectively. The structural evolution mechanism of the In/Si（lll） surface with indium coverage around 1.0 monolayer is discussed. The 4×1 and -√7× √3 phases are suggested to have two different types of evolution mechanisms, consistent with experimental results.

Density Functional Theory Study for Adsorption of Oxygen and Water Molecules on 6H-SiC(0001) Surface

6H-SiC is an important semiconductor material. The 6H-SiC wafer is always exposed to a high-humidity environment and the effect from the absorbed water molecule and some relative adsorbates is not negligible. Here, the oxygen and water molecules absorbed on the 6H-SiC(0001) surface and the dissociation process were studied with density functional theory. On the 6H-SiC(0001) surface, absorbed O2 is spontaneously dissociated into O*, which is absorbed on a hollow site, and further transforms the 6H-SiC(0001) surface into SiO2. The absorbed H2O is spontaneously broken into OH*and H*, which are both absorbed on the top of the Si atom, and OH* is further reversibly transformed into O* and H*. The H* could saturate the dangling Si bond and change the absorption type of O*, which could stabilize the 6H-SiC(0001) surface and prevent it from transforming into SiO2.

Influence of Al Preflow Time on Surface Morphology and Quality of AlN and GaN on Si(111) Grown by MOCVD

We investigate the influence of A1 preflow time on surface morphology and quality of AIN and GaN. The AIN and GaN layers are grown on a Si （111） substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy are used for analysis. Consequently, we find significant differences in the epitaxial properties of AlN buffer and the GaN layer, which are dependent on the AI preflow time. A1 preflow layers act as nucleation sites in the case of AiN growth. Compact and uniform AIN nucleation sites are observed with optimizing A1 preflow at an early nucleation stage, which will lead to a smooth AIN surface. Trenches and AlN grain clusters appear on the AIN surface while meltoback etching occurs on the GaN surface with excessive A1 preflow. The GaN quality variation keeps a similar trend with the AIN quality, which is influenced by AI preflow. With an optimized duration orAl preflow, crystal quality and surface morphology of AIN and GaN could be improved.

Simulation of Nano Si and Al Wires Growth on Si(100) Surface

Growth of nano Si and Al wires on the Si(100) surfaces is investigated by computer simulation, including the anisotropic diffusion and the anisotropic sticking. The diffusion rates along and across the substrate dimer rows are different, so are the sticking probabilities of an adatom, at the end sites of existing islands or the side sites. Both one\|dimensional wires of Si and Al are perpendicular to the dimer rows of the substrate, though the diffusion of Si adatoms is contrary to that of Al adatoms, i.e. Si adatoms diffuse faster along the dimer rows while Al adatoms faster across the dimer rows. The simulation results also show that the shape anisotropy of islands is due to the sticking anisotropy rather than the diffusion anisotropy, which is in agreement with the experiments.

AN IN SITU SURFACE COMPOSITE AND GRADIENT MATERIAL OF Al-Si ALLOY PRODUCED BY ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE

Because of the different conductivities between the primary phase (low electric conduc tivity) and the metal melt, electromagnetic force scarcely acts on the primary phase. Thus, an electromagnetic repulsive force applied by the metal melt exerts on the pri mary phase when the movement of the melt in the direction of electromagnetic force is limited. As a result, the repulsive force exerts on the primary phase to push them to move in the direction opposite to that of the electromagnetic force when the metal melt with primary phase solidifies under an electromagnetic force field. Based on this, a new method for production of in situ surface composite and gradient material by electromagnetic force is proposed. An in situ primary Si reinforced surface composite of Al-15wt%Si alloy and gradient material of Al-l9wt%Si alloy were produced by this method. The microhardness of the primary Si is HV1320. The reinforced phase size is in the range from 40μm to 100μm. The wear resistance of Al-Si alloy gradient material can be more greatly increased than that of their matrix material.

Impact of Surface Passivation on the Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of the Si1-xGex Nanowires

The electronic structures and optical properties of the [llO]-oriented Sil-xGex nanowires （NWs） passivated with different functional groups （-H, -F and-OH） are investigated by using first-principles calculations. The results show that surface passivation influences the characteristics of electronic band structures significantly： the band gap widths and types （direct or indirect） of the Si1-xGe, NWs with different terminators show complex and robust variations, and the effective masses of the electrons in the NWs can be modulated dramatically by the terminators. The study of optical absorption shows that the main peaks of the parallel polarization component of Si1-x Gex NWs passivated with the functional groups exhibit prominent changes both in height and position, and are red-shifted with respect to those of corresponding pure Si NWs, indicating the importance of both the terminators and Ge concentrations. Our results demonstrate that the electronic and optical properties of Si1-xGex NWs can be tuned by utilizing selected functional groups as well as particular Ge concentrations for customizing purposes.

NON-EQUILIBRIUM SEGREGATION OF Si ON Al-0.35 wt-% Si ALLOY SURFACE

Si segregation was observed in the vacancy condensation pits,formed by supersaturated vacancies beneath the oxidation layer of Al-0.35wt-％Si alloy,by optical microscopy,X- ray photoelectron spectroscopy and microhardness tests.This phenomenon could only be explained by vacancy-Si complex inducing non-equilibrium segregation.

Molecular Simulation study of Alkyl Monolayers on Si(III) Surface

The structure of eight-carbon monolayers on the H-terminated Si(III) surface was investigated by molecular simulation method. The best substitution percent 50% for octene or octyne-derived monolayer can be obtained using molecular mechanics calculation. And the densely packed, well-ordered monolayer on Si(III) surface can be shown through energy minimization in the suitable-size simulation cell.

Size Effects for the Adsorption of Alkali Metal Atoms on the Si(001) Surface

The adsorptions of a series of alkali metal （AM） atoms, Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs, on a Si（001）-2 × 2 surface at 0.25 monolayer coverage have been investigated systematically by means of density functional theory calculations. The effects of the size of AM atoms on the Si（001） surface are focused in the present work by examining the most stable adsorption site, diffusion path, band structure, charge transfer, and the change of work function for different adsorbates. Our results suggest that, when the interactions among AM atoms are neglectable, these AM atoms can be divided into three classes. For Li and Na atoms, they show unique site preferences, and correspond to the strongest and weakest AM-Si interactions, respectively. In particular, the band structure calculation indicates that the nature of Li-Si interaction differs significantly from others. For the adsorptions of other AM atoms with larger size （namely, K, Rb and Cs）, the similarities in the atomic and electronic structures are observed, implying that the atom size has little influence on the adsorption behavior for these large AM atoms on the Si（001） surface.

Formation and local electronic structure of Ge clusters on Si（111）-7×7 surfaces

We report the formation and local electronic structure of Ge clusters on the Si（111）-7×7 surface studied by using variable temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy （VT-STM） and low-temperature scanning tunnelling spectroscopy （STS）. Atom-resolved STM images reveal that the Ce atoms are prone to forming clusters with 1.0 nm in diameter for coverage up to 0.12 ML. Such Ce clusters preferentially nucleate at the centre of the faulted-half unit cells, leading to the ＇dark sites＇ of Si centre adatoms from the surrounding three unfaulted-half unit cells in filled-state images. Biasdependent STM images show the charge transfer from the neighbouring Si adatoms to Ce clusters. Low-temperature STS of the Ce clusters reveals that there is a band gap on the Ce cluster and the large voltage threshold is about 0.9 V.

Dependence of Atomic-Scale Si(110) Surface Roughness on Hydrogen Introduction Temperature after High-Temperature Ar Annealing

The atomic-scale surface roughness of Si(110) reconstructed via high-temperature Ar annealing is immediately increased by non uniform accidental oxidation during the unloading process (called reflow oxidation) during high-temperature Ar annealing. In particular, for a reconstructed Si(110) surface, characteristic line-shaped oxidation occurs at preferential oxidation sites appearing in pentagonal pairs in the directions of Si[-112] and/or [-11-2]. We previously reported that the roughness increase of reconstructed Si(110) due to reflow oxidation can be restrained by replacing Ar gas with H2 gas at 1000&#176C during the cooling to 100&#176C after high-temperature Ar annealing. It was speculated that preferential oxidation sites on reconstructed Si(110) were eliminated by H2 gas etching and hydrogen termination of dangling bonds. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the effect of H2 gas etching and hydrogen termination behavior on the reconstructed Si(110) surface structure. In this study, we evaluated in detail the relationship between the temperature at which the H2 gas replaces the Ar in high-temperature Ar annealing and the reconstructed Si(110) surface structure. The maximum height of the roughness on the reconstructed surface was the same as if Ar gas was used when the H2 gas introduction temperature was 200&#176C, although the amount of reflow oxidation was decreased to 70% by hydrogen termination. Furthermore, line-shaped oxidation still occurs when H2 gas replaces Ar at this low temperature. Therefore, we conclude that oxidation is caused by slight Si etching at low temperatures, and thus the preferential oxidation sites on the reconstructed structure must be eliminated by hydrogen etching in order to form an atomically smooth Si(110) surface.

Study on Surface Morphology of GaN Growth by MOCVD on GaN/Si(111)Template

The surface morphology of GaN grown by MOCVD on GaN/Si template was studied.Rough morphology and deep pinhole defects on some surface areas of the samples were observed and studied.The formation of rough morphology is possibly related to Ga-Si alloy produced due to poor thermal stability of template at high temperature.The deep pinhole defects generated are deep down to the surface of MBE-grown GaN/Si template.The stress originated from the large thermal expansion coefficient difference between GaN and Si may be related to the formation of the pinhole defects.The surface morphology of the GaN can be improved by optimizing the GaN/Si template and decreasing the growth temperature.

An Explicit Surface-Potential Based Biaxial Strained-Si n-MOSFET Model for Circuit Simulation

In this paper, a charge sheet surface potential based model for strained-Si nMOSFETs is presented and validated with numerical simulation. The model considers sub band splitting in the 2-DEG at the top heterointerface in SiGe layer and also the dependence of electron concentration at heterointerface with the gate oxide. The model is scalable with strained-Si material parameters with physically derived flat-band voltages. An explicit relation for surface potential as a function of terminal voltages is developed. The model is derived from regional charge-based approach, where regional solutions are physically derived. The model gives an accurate description of drain current both in the weak and strong inversion regions of operation. The results obtained from the model developed are benchmarked with commercial numerical device simulator and is found to be in excellent agreement.

STUDIES OF OXYGEN ADSORPTION AND INITIAL OXIDATION ON SINGLE CRYSTAL Mn_5Si_3(111) SURFACE

Kinetics of oxygen adsorption on single crystal Mn5Si3 （111） surface and initial surface oxidation were investigated. Oxygen chemisorbs dissociatively at room temperature on Mn and Si atoms. A fast oxidation of Si atoms occurs followed by oxidation of Mn atoms at RT. The MnO2 was reduced by Si atoms and the SiO was oxidized further to SiO2 during the sample heating.

Characterization of Surface State of Inert Particles: Case of Si and SiC

Silicon and Silicon carbide particles have been investigated by the mean of infrared (IR) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to establish their surface states. The results of this research are based on the estimation of the area under the high resolution peaks by isosceles triangles. This approach leads to the repartition of the particles surfaces in term of atomic percentage and of type of bonds. The surface of silicon particles is divided up into 54.85% of Si-O bonds and 36.85% of Si-Si bonds. The remaining surface is constituted of zeolite, the raw material used to produce the silicon particles. The surface of silicon carbide particles consists of 50.44% of Si-C bonds, 24.01% of Si-O bonds and 25.55% of graphite. 10.01% of the graphite is derived from the oxidation of Si-C bonds while 11.48% is due to contamination. The zeta potential evolution versus pH confirms the distribution of chemical groups found.

Relaxation of 6H-SiC(0001) Surface and Si Adsorption on 6H-SiC(0001):an ab initio Study

First-principles calculations are carried out to study the relaxation of 6H-SiC （0001） surface and chemisorption models of Si adatoms on four high-symmetry adsorption sites. The surface results show that Si-termination is the preferred termination of the 6H-SiC（0001） polar surface and is more stable than the C-terminated 61-1- SiC（0001） polar surface over a wide range of allowed chemical potentials. Four stable atomic configurations （top, bridge, hcp and fcc） are considered, and the adsorption energies and geometries, Mulliken charge population, and partial density of state （PDOS） properties are analyzed. Adsorption energy results show that the top site is the most stable site. The structural properties of Si adsorption on the SiC （0001） surface shows that increasing stability means decreasing bond lengths. Charge populations analysis and PDOS results imply that there is strong interaction between Si adatoms and 6H-SiC （0001） surface.

Suppressing Effects of Ag Wetting Layer on Surface Conduction of Er Silicide/Si(001) Nanocontacts

Current-voltage electrical characteristics of Er silicide/Si（001） nanocontacts are measured in situ in a scanning tunneling microscopy system. Introduced as a new technique to suppress surface leakage conduction on Si（001）,a silver wetting layer is evaporated onto the substrate surface kept at room temperature with Er Si2 nanoislands already existing. The effects of the silver layer on the current-voltage characteristics of nanocontacts are discussed.Our experimental results reveal that the silver layer at coverage of 0.4–0.7 monolayer can suppress effectively the current contribution from the surface conduction path. After the surface leakage path of nanocontacts is obstructed, the ideality factor and the Schottky barrier height are determined using the thermionic emission theory, about 2 and 0.5 eV, respectively. The approach adopted here could shed light on the intrinsic transport properties of metal-semiconductor nanocontacts.

THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAND-INDUCED STRAIN ON THE Si SURFACE MORPHOLOGY IN Ge-Si MULTILAYERS: A TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY STUDY

Growth and ordering of coherently strained Ge-rich islands in Ge/Si single layer and multilayer systems and the influence of island arrangements on the evolutio n of the surface morphology of Si cap layers during deposition by low-pressure c hemical vapour deposition(LPCVD) on Si(001) substrates at 700℃ have been invest igated by TEM of cross-section and plan-view specimens. At distances between the Ge layers of 35-50nm, vertical order of GeSi islands is observed for Ge-Si bila yer systems and for Ge-Si multilayer systems consisting of 5 layer pairs whereas lateral ordering parallel to <100> substrate directions is observed for the lat ter case only. In agreement with earlier results the vertical ordering in the mu ltilayer system can be understood as result of the elastic interaction between i sland nuclei forming in the layers with close islands in a buried layer below. T he lateral ordering along <100> may be attributed to the anisotropy of the elast ic interaction. Characteristic for all Si surfaces are the spatial correlation b etween the presence of island-induced lattice strain and the appearance of array s of larger square-shaped pyramids with distinct faceting and facet edges along <110>. The results reflect the importance of the control of growth parameters an d of the island-induced strain state for the evolution of the Si top layer surfa ce morphology during LPCVD growth.

Experimental Study of Surface Flashover Field of SI-GaAs Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch

With its unique features, photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) is generally recognized today as a promising power electronic device. However, a major limitation of PCSS is its surprisingly low voltage threshold of surface flashover (SF). In this paper, an experimental study of surface flashover of a back-triggered PCSS is presented. The PCSSs with electrode gap of 18 mm are fabricated from liquid encapsulated czochralski (LEC) semi-insulating gallium arsenide (SI-GaAs), and they are either un-coated, or partly coated, or en- tirely coated PCSSs with high-strength transparent insulation. The SF fields of the PCSSs are measured and discussed. According to the experimental results, the high-dielectric-strength coating is efficient in both reducing the gas desorption from semiconductor and increasing the SF field: a well-designed PCSS can resist a voltage up to 20 kV under the repetition frequency of 30 Hz. The physical mechanism of the PCSS SF is analyzed, and the conclusion is made that having a channel structure, the SF is the breakdown of the contaminated dielectric layer at the semiconductor-ambient dielectric interface. The non-uniform distribution of the surface field and the gas desorption due to thermal effects of semiconductor surface currents are key factors causing the SF field reduction.