How Trace Analytical Techniques Contribute to the Research and Development of Ge and III/V Semiconductor Devices

Abstract

Ge and III/V semiconductor substrates are recently being investigated as a candidate material for the replacement of Si substrates in advanced micro-electronic devices. The reintroduction of this material requires engineering of the standard IC processing steps. In this paper, we present how the trace analytical techniques of total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF) and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) contribute to the realization of suitable processes to realize a high quality gate stack on Ge and GaAs substrates. A conventional application for these techniques lays in contamination control on incoming wafers. Besides this, we demonstrate some more advanced applications such as the determination of dopant concentrations (As in Ge), the study of passivation processes (S on Ge) and the characterization of nanometer thin layers (Si on Ge, HfO2 on Si).