Abstract
Germanium (Ge) is a promising channel material for electronic devices in the next generation because it has higher mobilities for both holes and electrons than those of Si. Germanium oxide (GeO2) is one of the key materials in Ge-based transistors. However, GeO2 is permeable and soluble in water. This implies that GeO2 films will react with water vapor in air. In this study, water growth on ultrathin GeO2 films on a Ge(100) substrate and their effect on the electronic properties of GeO2 films are investigated using in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, the wetting property of GeO2/Ge is compared with that of more familiar SiO2/Si.In-situ XPS[1] measurements were performed at beamline 9.3.2 of the Advanced Light Source (ALS), of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[2]A differentially pumped electrostatic lens system separates the analysis chamber from a hemispherical photoelectron spectrometer. Water vapor was introduced up to a pressure of 1.0 Torr while the sample temperature was controlled from room temperature to around -5°C by a chiller. This enabled us to control relative humidity from 0 % to around 15 %.A simple estimation from O1s and Ge3d (or Si2p) indicates that thicker water layers are formed on GeO2 than on SiO2 at RH higher than 10-4%. Namely, the water thickness reaches one monolayer on SiO2 at 10% whereas it is two or three monolayers in the case of GeO2. We also find that the energy separation between Ge4+ and Ge0+ signals in Ge3d spectra increases more drastically at RH higher than 10-4% than that between Si4+ and Si0+ signals in Si2p spectra. This means that GeO2 films are charged more positively than SiO2 above the critical RH. We present two possibilities for the positive charging of the ultrathin GeO2 films in the presence of water vapor. One simple explanation is positive charging of the oxide with adsorbed water molecules by X-ray irradiation. The other explanation is that water-related species emit electrons to the Ge bulk and positive charges are created in GeO2, which may be the cause of the reported negative shift of the flatband voltage in Ge-based MOS capacitors with air-exposed GeO2.[3] [1] M. Salmeron and R. Schlögl, Surf. Sci. Rep. 63, 169-199 (2008).[2] M.E. Grass, P.G. Karlsson, F. Aksoy, M. Lundqvist, B. Wannberg, B.S. Mun, Z. Hussain and Z. Liu, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 053106 (2010).[3] A. Mura, I. Hideshima, Z. Liu, T. Hosoi, H. Watanabe and K. Arima, J. Phys. Chem. C 117, 165-171 (2013).
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