Effect of chemical bond polarity on wafer and cleavage surface oxidation for GaAs, GaSb, InAs and InSb single crystals

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Rapid development of III–V semiconductor device technologies and broadening of device applications are hindered by the high density of surface states produced in those materials by intrinsic complex oxides and surface contaminations. Surface oxides acting as non-radiating recombination centers produce a number of surface levels in the band gap. Oxidation mechanisms depend on the chemical composition of a specific III–V semiconductor compound because surface reactivities differ between materials. The effect of chemical bond polarity on surface oxidation processes in single crystal III–V semiconductor wafers is currently an important research topic. In this work, surface-sensitive XPS method has been used for studying oxidation regularities in GaAs, InAs, GaSb and InSb single crystals undergoing natural atmospheric oxidation and subjected chemical-mechanical polishing. A method of assessing oxidation levels based on chemical shifts of XPS spectral features has been developed. Oxidation level has been shown to depend on chemical bond ionicity degree, the latter being evaluated using the Sanderson and Phillips models. A decrease in surface oxidation level with an increase in bond ionicity degree has been observed for (110) single crystal wafer cleavage surfaces and for (100) single crystal wafer surfaces after single crystal slicing and chemical-mechanical polishing. We show that surface oxidation level increases in the InAs–GaAs–InSb–GaSb sequence, from arsenides to antimonides.