Stability of Multilayered Semiconductor Systems

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have studied the atomic scale relaxation of multilyered semiconductor systems through interdiffusion, and its implications for layer and hence device stability. Our technique combines chemical lattice imaging and vector pattern recognition to measure interdiffusion coefficients as small as 10-20 cm2/s at single AiGaAs/GaAs interfaces. Our results can be summarized as follows. (a) The interdiffusion coefficient and hence layer stability depend strongly on the distance from the top surface. (b) The strong influence of the surface stems from its role as the source of rative point defects (interstitials, vacancies) involved in the diffusion process. (c) The study of the initial transients in the diffusion process can directly yield the migration and formation energies of these defects as a function of their charge state. (d) The non-linear nature of the diffusion process can have serious consequences for the low temperature stability of multilayered materials and devices. We also discuss the implications of our results for the design and fabrication of stable multilayered systems.