The use of AES and EELS for complex analysis of two-dimensional coatings and their growth process

Abstract

Additional possibilities for complex analysis of two-dimensional coatings (thickness <1 nm or <10 ML) grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) on a single-crystal silicon substrate under two deposition regimes are revealed: 1) low-temperature (at low beam temperature) and 2) high-temperature (at an elevated temperature of the beam), respectively. Coatings, including in the form of pure metal and a silicide mixture, and their interface with the substrate were analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and characteristic electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). To ensure both deposition regimes, a technology of the deposition from the ribboned source was developed. The traditional use of AES is limited to determining the composition of the elements, the energy electronic structure, and the thickness of the coating. And EELS — the types of phases (the density of valence electrons) and the stages of their formation. The simultaneous use of both methods and the choice of equal (and minimal) probing depths, ~ 2.5 nm (primary electron energy 300 eV), provided new possibilities for studying subnanometric two-dimensional coatings, in particular, — for comparison of the composition of coatings and their density. The chosen probing depth made it possible to characterize also interface between coating and substrate. At the same time, the same probing depth made it possible to use the thickness of the coating obtained from the AES data to analyze the data of the EELS. In addition, other possibilities are considered. This is the use of dependencies: a) the energy of the plasmon satellite of Auger peak, depending on the thickness of the coating, for analyzing changes in the electron density in the near-interface layer of silicon; B) attenuation of the Auger signal generated by marker atoms at the interface between the coating and the substrate to localize the places of adsorption of deposited atoms; and c) the intensity and energy of the loss peaks in the EELS in dependence on the primary-electron energy for profiling the composition of coatings over the depth. The use of two attenuation functions for two depths of probing provided a quantitative Auger analysis of binary coatings. All this made it possible to characterize more fully both the two-dimensional coatings themselves and the interface layer of the substrate, as well as the processes of their formation. And, in particular, this made it possible to identify for the first time the wetting nanophase layer of metal on a silicon substrate, to investigate the process of its formation and to show how its composition depends on the modes of vapor-phase physical deposition.