Anneal kinetics of a deposited layer in the presence of thermal desorption and particle diffusion into the substrate

The dependences of the Auger signal and adsorbate desorption flux on the anneal time and rate constants of the near-surface reactions and diffusion into the bulk have been obtained from the theory of heat conductivity. It is shown that the decay of the Auger signal with time t is a linear function of only under surface-limited diffusion of adatoms into the bulk, exactly what was observed in the annealing of Si/Ta. It is shown also that the initial adatom distribution in the bulk obtained during heating the adlayers of different thickness to the anneal temperature practically does not affect the dependence of the measured signals on time, while becoming manifest in their dependence on the anneal temperature. The relation between the dissolution time of an adlayer during heating and its thickness has been found. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 1712–1719 (September 1999)