Contribution of the contamination of deionized water by bacteria to the adsorption of carbon on Si and GaSb

Abstract

Auger electron spectroscopy analysis was performed on GaSb and Si semiconductor surfaces rinsed by deionized water or by tap water. The surface contaminations deduced from these analyses were correlated to the results of chemical and bacteriological tests of deionized tap water and it was found that the development of micro-organisms in the water-line was responsible for a carbon contamination of the samples rinsed by deionized water.