Study of the first nucleation steps of thin films by XPS inelastic peak shape analysis

The initial steps in the formation of thin films have been investigated by analysis of the peak shape (both inelastic background and elastic contributions) of X‐ray photoelectron spectra. Surface coverage and averaged height of the deposited particles have been estimated for several overlayers (nanometre range) after successive deposition cycles. This study has permitted the assessment of the type of nucleation and growth mechanisms of the films. The experiments have been carried out in situ in the preparation chamber of an XPS spectrometer. To check the performance of the method, several materials (i.e. cerium oxide, vanadium oxide and cadmium sulfide) have been deposited on different substrates using a variety of preparation procedures (i.e. thermal evaporation, ion beam assisted deposition and plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition). It is shown that the first deposited nuclei of the films are usually formed by three‐dimensional particles whose heights and degree of surface coverage depend on the chemical characteristics of the growing thin film and substrate materials, as well as the deposition procedure. It is concluded that XPS peak shape analysis can be satisfactorily used as a general method to characterize morphologically the first nanometric moieties that nucleate a thin film. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.