Important unanswered questions—1970

This paper was given as the opening address at the 1970 Albany International Conference on Radiation Effects in Semiconductors, and it attempts to establish a general overview of the field by concentrating on recent research developments and important unanswered questions. The continuing importance of impurity-defect interactions, of microscopic defect identification, and of the necessity for more theoretical calculations are emphasized. The rapid development of the field of ion implantation and its close relationship with radiation effects studies are pointed out. It is predicted that research in compound semiconductors will increase rapidly with close beneficial interaction with ion implantation studies.     

Epitaxial growth in the (111)Ag/Cu and (111)Au/Cu systems

The initial stages of epitaxial growth in the (111)Ag/Cu and (111)Au/Cu systems were investigated using UHV-RHEED and TEM on the same specimens. Flat, monocrystalline (111)Cu substrates, 1100 Å thick, were formed in situ in the RHEED system on (111)NaCl/mica bilayers. The latter consisted of air-cleaved mica on which 150 Å of NaCl was vacuum-evaporated to form a (111)NaCl monocrystalline film. The NaCl layer allowed easy removal in water of the subsequently deposited bilayer metal film. RHEED showed that these Cu films grew with extremely flat surfaces at 400°C and 10 Å/sec deposition rates. They were then annealed at 500°C for 15 min to reduce their dislocation content and finally used as substrates for subsequent deposition of thin Ag or Au superlayers. The average Ag and Au superlayer thicknesses were varied from fractions of an Angstrom to approximately 20 Å. It was shown that despite the elongated streaks in the RHEED patterns, film growth occurred by an island mechanism, the islands having flat top surfaces. In the initial growth processes, the islands merely thickened. After a few average monolayers were deposited, the islands began to widen, often by means of much thinner islands, finally coalescing into a continuous film. The Au overgrowths became continuous in the 6–11 Å thickness range. In the case of Ag, there still were some open areas in the overgrowth at 20 Å. In both cases the continuous regions of the Ag and Au overgrowths consisted of sharply delineated thick and thin areas that gave rise to steps on the otherwise flat surface.     

Auger line shape changes in epitaxial (111)Pd/(111)Cu films

Epitaxial Pd films ranging in thickness from a few tenths of a monolayer up to many monolayers were formed on (111)Cu substrate films at room temperature under UHV conditions. The growth of these Pd films was monitored in situ by Auger electron spectroscopy. The line profiles of the Cu MMM (61 eV) and Pd MVV (329 eV) AES doublets varied significantly with the amount of Pd deposited. A new measure of the AES doublet line profile, called the R-factor, was defined. A graph R_pd versus Pd film thickness shows a sharp decline with increasing thickness. Superimposed on the major trend is a cyclical variation. A corresponding periodicity in R_cu was observed for the Cu MMM (61 eV) AES doublet. The results suggest that the R-factor provides a direct measure of changes in the electronic structures of the overgrowth and substrate films as the former thickens by a layer-growth mechanism.     

Thickness periodicity in the Auger line shape from epitaxial (111)Cu films

The 61 eV MMM Cu Auger line doublet was recorded in the derivative mode as a function of thickness for epitaxial (111)Cu films approximately 1500 Å thick. The overlap of the doublet lines makes it possible to define a measure of the doublet profile called the “R -factor” as a ratio of the peak-to-peak heights of the small overlap oscillation to that of the major oscillation. To within the experimental error, it was found that the R -factor varies with a periodicity of approximately one monoatomic layer as the film thickens. Since these films grow by a layer growth mechanism, the surface topography varies periodically with the number of monolayers deposited, going from a smooth to a rough to a smooth, etc. surface. It is believed that the occurrence of such a periodicity implies that there is a difference in the electronic structure at the surface of the flat areas of the film from that at the edges of monolayer high, flat islands. The amplitude of the oscillation in R is interpreted to be a measure of the relative amounts of edge area compared to flat area. These results show that it is possible to use Auger electron spectroscopy to monitor surface topography and the electronic structure changes that accompany the topographical changes occurring when epitaxial films grow by a layer growth mechanism.