Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, A.C.

Nanomaterials’ Engineering 2

Silicon substrate characterized with XPS

Prof. Milton Vázquez

Cruz Serrano, Z​1​, Méndez Ramos, V​1​, Torres Romero, J​1​.

Periférico Sur Manuel Gómez Morín # 8585

C.P. 45604 Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, México

Abstract
In this paper a silicon substrate was analyzed with the technique XPS. A small silicon
substrate was introduced to the XPS to perform an analysis of the same observing the
elements present. The spectres results show a high percentage of Oxygen (2s), a little bit of
silicon (2p, 2s) and carbon (1s).

Key words: Silicon substrate, XPS, Spectra.

Introduction
Silicon oxide has applications mainly in the microelectronics industry and sometimes it is
used for mirror films too. Having a pure silicon wafer and exposing it to the atmosphere will
generate with no doubt silicon oxide films. Generally what is known as silicon oxide is really
silicon dioxide. However under certain conditions, thin layers of silicon monoxide can be
formed. It is very important for the applications to know the chemical composition of the
oxide and their thickness. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) is widely used for
characterizing silica films because one can calculate with precision the stoichiometry of the
molecules in the film. In this technique, generated X-rays interact with atoms in the sample
which get excited and emit X -ray photons in a wide range of energy. These photons are
detected and “counted” in the detector. Generally, a survey measurement is made to give a
general idea of the elements that are found in the sample. Then, one obtains high definition
spectra in the range of energy that contains peaks of the element of interest. With these high
definition peaks, areas are calculated and ratios for atoms in the molecules can be obtained.

Results and Characterization

The sample was analyzed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The graphics show
the XPS signal obtained measured with an aluminum source (1486.6eV). Where in the axis
found binding energy (x axis) and counts (y axis).
The tables show the different analysis through which they passed. The last table shows the
final concentration (quantification table) result.

This first graph shows the survey from 10 to 1300 eV in which the different elements that
were present on the sample were shown. At the beginning, as the sample was not known, this
was useful to identify the position of the carbon (C1s) and that way, continue identifying the
other elements. As the carbon (C1s) was found at 285 eV (as it usually does) so a shift was
not needed to analyze the rest of the spectra.

Figure 1. Survey graph of the sample (energy 0-1300eV)

With the main peaks identified, high resolution analysis were made to the main peaks of the
sample. The main peaks were and the value where they were found were Si2p(99.15 eV),
Si2s (150.5 eV), C1s (285 eV) and 01s (532.9eV). This values can be verified in the
Handbook of The Elements and Native Oxides (1). There were no analysis made on the auger
and losses of the elements.

Figure 2. Graph of the oxygen (O 1s)

The Oxygen found at 532.9 eV was fitted with two peaks, one that belongs to O1s and the
smaller most likely belonging to SiO2. This also happens with the carbon found at 285 eV,
where the biggest peak is C1s and the other is SiC.

Table 1. Fitting parameters for oxygen (O 1s)

 Figure 3. Graph of the carbon (C 1s)

Table 2. Fitting parameters for carbon (C 1s)

 Figure 4. Graph of the silicon (Si 2p)

In the previous graph, it is shown at 99 eV pure silicon (Si2p) reacting with oxygen (O) and
at 103 eV silicon reacting with dioxygen (O2).It can be seen in the next table the three peaks
used to analyze the components where the peak 0 (p0) belongs to Si 2p1/2, the peak 1(p1) to
Si 2p3/2 and the peak 3 (p3) to O2.

Table 3. Fitting parameters for silicon (Si 2p)

The peaks analyzed were compared with other authors such as A. Ermolief et. al. who
studied a XPS spectra in diferents surfaces treated by HF, and they obtains a similar peaks of
Si2p, C1s and O1s.

Table 4. Element quantification

In the table 4 we can see that the higher composition percentage is of Oxygen, with 94.08%,
then the Silicon with 4.26% and finally we see the carbon with a lower percentage (1.66%).

Conclusions
It is concluded that, because of the high percentage of oxygen (94.08%), the sample analyzed
is a silicon oxide with a little bit of carbon. This means that silicon substrate contamination is
very low.

References
[1] ​Handbooks of Monochromatic XPS Spectra ​(Vol. 1). (1999). XPS International, Inc.
Handbook of The Elements and Native Oxides
[2]Mark Bachman, “RCA-1 Silicon Wafer Cleaning” (1999)
[3] “RCA Critical Cleaning Process” - MIcroTech Systems INC.
http://www.microtechprocess.com
[4]W. Kern, Ed, Handbook of a Semiconductor Cleaning Technology, Noyes publishing;
park Ridge, NJ, 1993, Ch. 1
[4]A.Ermolieff. (1991). Surface composition analysis of HF vapour cleaned silicon by X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy. ​ElSEVIER​, 178-184.