X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffraction investigation of a metal–oxide-semiconductor heterostructure: Pt/Gd2O3/Si(111)

Abstract

Platinum thin films deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) on Gd2O3/Si(111) templates are investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD). Both XRD and XPD give clear evidence that Gd2O3 grows (111)-oriented and single-domain on Si(111) with mirror epitaxial relationship viz., [1¯10] Gd2O3(111)//[11¯0] Si(111). On Gd2O3/Si(111), Pt is partially crystallized with (111) orientation. There are two epitaxial domains and a slightly visible (111) fiber texture. The in-plane relationships of these Pt(111) domains with Gd2O3(111) are a direct one: [11¯0] Pt(111)//[11¯0] Gd2O3(111) and a mirror one: [1¯10] Pt(111)//[11¯0] Gd2O3(111). XPS reveals that Pt4f exhibits a metallic behavior even for small amounts of Pt but very small chemical shifts suggest that Pt environment is different at the interface with Gd2O3. These XPS chemical shifts have been correlated with features in XPD azimuth curves, which could be related with the existence of hexagonal α-PtO2(0001)layer.