GaAs clean up studied with synchrotron radiation photoemission

Abstract

In this contribution we describe the chemical changes at the surface of GaAs upon adsorption of tri-methyl-aluminum (TMA). TMA is used to grow Al2O3 with atomic layer deposition (ALD) usually using H2O as oxygen source. Recently, it was pointed out that the adsorption of TMA on various III-V surfaces reduces the native oxide, allowing the growth of an abrupt III-V/High-K interface with reduced density of defects. Synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy (SR-PES) is a powerful method to characterize surfaces and interfaces of many materials, as it is capable to determine their chemical composition as well as the electronic properties. We performed in-situ SR-PES measurements after exposing a GaAs surface to TMA pulses at about 250°C. Upon using the possibility of tuning the incident photon energy we compared the Ga3d spectra at 41 eV, 71 eV, 91 eV and 121 eV, as well as the As3d at 71 eV and 91 eV. Finally, we show that using SR-PES allows a further understanding of the surface composition, which is usually not accessible with other techniques.