High-angle annular dark-field STEM imaging of doped semiconductor layers

Abstract

With the development of crystal growth techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), it is now possible to fabricate modulation-doped superlattices consisting of alternating ultrathin layers of n-and/or p-type material abruptly separated by undoped material. At sufficiently high dopant concentrations these abrupt layers may be imaged in cross section by electron microscopy. Pennycook et al. and Treacy et al. have used high angle annular dark-field (HAAD) imaging in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to image low levels of dopants (∼1 at. %) in semiconductors. This work is concerned with imaging boron and arsenic doped layers in silicon at levels « 1 at.%.Fig. 1 shows a HAAD image of a B-Si superlattice at the <110> zone-axis orientation taken at 100 kV using a VG HB501UX STEM. The bright vertical layers are the B-doped regions, containing ∼4 x 1020 B/cm3. The horizontal lines are due to beam instability while the image was recorded. Fig.2 shows a line scan across the same superlattice, recorded by scanning the beam across the specimen in a direction perpendicular to the layers.