Chemically prepared oxides on Si(001): an XPS study

Abstract

Thin oxide layers prepared on Si(001) by various chemical treatments have been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The oxides are prepared by treatment with HCl, H 2SO 4 and HNO 3. The O 1s spectra consists of two peaks at 532.6 eV (low binding energy component, LBC) and 533.6 eV (high binding energy component, HBC) in all the cases. The LBC is assigned to a monatomic bridging oxygen, SiOSi and HBC to a monatomic non-bridging oxygen, SiO species. Conversion of SiO to SiOSi takes place on annealing the sample. The concentration of SiO species is low in the case of HCl oxide. In in situ prepared oxide, the O 1s is predominantly due to SiOSi.