XPS chemical state mapping in opto- and microelectronics

Abstract

The strength of XPS imaging lies in its ability to (i) locate small patterns on sample surface, and (ii) inform, with micrometric lateral resolution, about the chemical environment of the elements detected at the surface. In this context, strontium-based perovskites appear to be well-adapted for such photoemission experiments thanks to their tunability and variability. These functional oxides have great potential for emerging optoand microelectronic applications, especially for transparent conductive oxide. Patterned heterostructure SrTiO3/SrVO3 was grown by pulsed laser deposition using a shadow mask. This stack was then analysed by XPS mapping in serial acquisition mode. Ti2p and V2p core level imaging clearly highlights the SrTiO3 and SrVO3 domains. The XPS mapping of the Sr3d core level will be extensively discussed: strontium being a common element to both oxides with a very similar chemical environment. Despite a lower contrast in Sr3d images, the two materials are discernible thanks to the topography. In addtion, the use of Sr3d FWHM image is a real asset to evidence the two phases. Finally, data processing by principal component analysis allows us to extract significant spectral information on the strontium atoms.