AUGER-ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY STUDY OF THE INTERACTION OF NO2 WITH SI(100)

The nitridation of clean Si(100)-2 x 1 with NO2 has been studied using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). In this letter we demonstrate that the interaction of Si(100) with NO2 leads to the efficient incorporation of nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O) in single crystal Si as opposed to the case of N2O on Si(100). A comparative study of the incorporation efficiency of N and O by the reaction of NO2 and N2O with Si(100) over a wide temperature range has been performed. It is observed that only a few Langmuirs (L) of NO2 is required to saturate the Si surface while reaction with N2O is not as favorable. At temperatures ranging from room temperature to 1000-degrees-C, varying proportions of N and O are incorporated into the Si by NO2. Repeated dosing and annealing cycles indicate that continued incorporation of N and O is possible even through a nitrogen-rich Si layer.