Author:

Keywords:

desorption, elemental semiconductors, etching, secondary ion mass spectra, silicon, ionization, fluorine, chlorine, xef2, Science & Technology, Technology, Physical Sciences, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Physics, Applied, Physics, Condensed Matter, Materials Science, Physics, SILICON, IONIZATION, FLUORINE, DESORPTION, CHLORINE, XEF2, 02 Physical Sciences, 03 Chemical Sciences, 09 Engineering, Fluids & Plasmas, 34 Chemical sciences, 40 Engineering, 51 Physical sciences

Abstract:

The mechanisms of particle emission resulting from electron-beam-induced etching of Si surfaces have been studied. A detailed analysis of the obtained mass spectra and kinetic-energy distributions shows that SiFx (x=0-2) species are predominantly desorbed from the surface when exposed to XeF2 etching gas and the electron beam. Based on these observations, we demonstrate a unique concept for materials analysis, termed zero-energy secondary-ion mass spectrometry, which can provide very high depth resolution and accurate near-surface profiles.