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Historically, Ge is one of the oldest materials in the semiconductor industry and its (001) surface has been the subject of extensive investigations by photoelectron spectroscopy. I am going to challenge the predominant attribution of a semi-conducting nature of the Ge(001) surface in this thesis. My investigations reveal the presence of a Ge(001) surface state above the Fermi-level, occupied at room temperature. Employing time- and temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, I will demonstrate that the presence of this surface state is evidence for the conducting nature of the surface at room temperature.
Sparked by the remarkable properties of the GeSn-alloy and a trend towards Ge-Sn-related multiquantum well fabrication, I investigate the surface electronic structure of Ge(001) after adsorption and incorporation of Sn. With an in-depth analysis of surface core-level shifts, I will extend the growth model of the Sn wetting layer formation by also detailing structural changes in the subsurface region. At the same time, the modifications of the electronic structure will be detailed, observing the removal of the Ge(001) surface states, the creation of a new, Sn-related surface state and the initial stages of the Schottky barrier formation.
β-Ga2O3 is a transparent semi-conducting oxide that has sparked a lot of interest over the last decade, because it offers an ultra-wide band gap and high break down voltage. However, due to its monoclinic crystal structure, device fabrication is rather challenging and researchers are already looking into alternative materials. One of these candidates is ϵ-Ga2O3 and this work presents a combined study by photoelectron spectroscopy and ab initio calculations of its electronic structure. (Hard) X-rays reveal the impact of photoelectron recoil and the absence of a band bending to the surface, while the dispersion of experimentally determined valence states compares favorably with the calculations based on hybrid density-functional theory.
Another alternative to β-Ga2O3 could be ZnGa2O4 and I will present an investigation on the electronic structure of its (100) surface. Due to the novelty of ZnGa2O4 single-crystals, I am first going to explore the preparation of a clean and well-ordered surface by standard in-situ sputtering and annealing. I will show that already low annealing temperatures induce Zn-deficiency, leading to non-stoichiometric surfaces, further exacerbated by sputtering. By changing the sputtering parameters and the annealing conditions, the preparation of a surface with sufficient quality for subsequent investigations will be demonstrated. The results by photoemission techniques compare favorably with the expectations from theory and allowing the first fundamental insights into the surface electronic structure.
This thesis focuses on the deposition of thin TiO₂ films on p-type Si using atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique, on the study of the electronic proprieties of the grown films and on the electrochemical characterization of TiO₂/Si photoelectrodes. The deposition parameters, electronic properties and electrochemical performance and stability of the TiO₂/Si samples are correlated.
The ALD technique is used to deposit TiO₂ with two different precursors namely Titanium isopropoxide and Titanium methoxide onto Si substrates. Laboratory as well as synchrotron based X-ray spectroscopy techniques are used to characterize these films. The growth quality of the TiO₂ ALD films is determined by analyzing X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data in terms of stoichiometry, defect states and Ti³⁺:Ti⁴⁺ ratios. The ALD technique was modified with different heating arrangements to obtain various polymorphs of TiO₂.
The ALD and anatase TiO₂ films are characterized using synchrotron radiation to study their electronic properties and these films are compared with single crystal rutile TiO₂. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and resonant photoelectron spectroscopy (res-PES) measurements are performed with synchrotron radiation. XAS measurements are used to determine the polymorphs as well as the electronic structure of TiO₂ Res-PES measurements are conducted at the O1s and Ti2p edges to study multiple hole Auger decay processes and polaronic and charge transfer states as well as to determine the electronic band gap of the TiO₂ layers. One of the main findings of this thesis is the determination of the partial density of states (pDOS) of O and Ti in the conduction and valence band. The combination of the pDOS and the band edge positions obtained from res-PES measurements are used to calculate the charge neutrality level of the TiO₂ polymorphs.
The photoelectrochemical measurements are conducted on bare-Si and TiO₂/Si photoelectrodes. The electrochemical performance of these photoelectrodes is studied in electrolytes having pH values ranging from 1 to 13. The deposition of TiO₂ on Si enhances the photoelectrochemical performance of the Si photoelectrode. The TiO₂ increases the stability of the photoelectrode in all electrochemical media over 12 hours of experimental condition. Moreover, it is also observed that the TiO₂/Si photoelectrode is less responsive to the pH value of the electrolyte. The electrochemical findings are explained on the basis of the electronic properties of the TiO₂ layer. The electronic band gap obtained from spectroscopic measurement and the photoelectrochemical measurements are used to explain the performance and stability of the TiO₂/Si photoelectrodes. The thesis also addresses the stability of Si microstructured photoelectrodes (SiMPs) prepared by an electrochemical method. The stability of the SiMPs deteriorates more rapidly than that one of the planar Si photoelectrode. However, using a protective ALD TiO₂ layer on these SiMPs the overall performance is even more enhanced than on the TiO₂/planar Si system.
Modern dielectrics in combination with appropriate metal electrodes have a great potential to solve many difficulties associated with continuing miniaturization process in the microelectronic industry. One significant branch of microelectronics incorporates dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market. The DRAM devices scaled for over 35 years starting from 4 kb density to several Gb nowadays. The scaling process led to the dielectric material thickness reduction, resulting in higher leakage current density, and as a consequence higher power consumption. As a possible solution for this problem, alternative dielectric materials with improved electrical and material science parameters were intensively studied by many research groups. The higher dielectric constant allows the use of physically thicker layers with high capacitance but strongly reduced leakage current density. This work focused on deposition and characterization of thin insulating layers. The material engineering process was based on Si cleanroom compatible HfO2 thin films deposited on TiN metal electrodes. A combined materials science and dielectric characterization study showed that Ba added HfO2 (BaHfO3) films and Ti added BaHfO3 (BaHf0.5Ti0.5O3) layers are promising candidates for future generation of state of the art DRAMs. In especial a strong increase of the dielectric permittivity k was achieved for thin films of cubic BaHfO3 (k~38) and BaHf0.5Ti0.5O3 (k~90) with respect to monoclinic HfO2 (k~19). Meanwhile the CET values scaled down to 1 nm for BaHfO3 and ~0.8 nm for BaHf0.5Ti0.5O3 with respect to HfO2 (CET=1.5 nm). The Hf4+ ions substitution in BaHfO3 by Ti4+ ions led to a significant decrease of thermal budget from 900°C for BaHfO3 to 700°C for BaHf0.5Ti0.5O3. Future studies need to focus on the use of appropriate metal electrodes (high work function) and on film deposition process (homogeneity) for better current leakage control.
We have grown HfO2 on Si(001) by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using HfCl4, TEMAHf, TDMAHf and H2O as precursors. The early stages of the ALD were investigated with high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. We observed the changes occurring in the Si2p, O1s, Hf4f, Hf4d, and Cl2p (for HfCl4 experiment) core level lines after each ALD cycle up to the complete formation of two layers of HfO2. The investigation was carried out in-situ giving the possibility to determine the properties of the grown film after every ALD cycle or even after a half cycle. This work focused on the advantages of the in-situ approach in comparison to ex-situ experiments. The study provides to follow the evolution of the important properties of HfO2: contamination level, density and stoichiometry, and influence of the experimental parameters to the interface layer formation during ALD. Our investigation shows that the in-situ XPS approach for ALD gives much more information than ex-situ experiments.
Als Modellsystem für gleichrichtende Heterokontakte von Dünnschichtsolarzellen wurden polykristalline ZnO-Filme auf Si mittels Magnetron-Sputtern und metallorganischer Gasstrahldeposition (MOCBD) abgeschieden. Mit Photoelektronenspektroskopie wurden bis zu 3 chemische Grenzflächenkomponenten gefunden: SiOx, eine Willemit-artige Mischphase und reduziertes Zn0. Letzteres kann über die Sputterparameter Bias-Potenzial und O2-Partialdruck kontrolliert werden. Mit MOCBD wurden auf Si(111):H abrupte Heterokontakte präpariert. Ferner tritt an Korngrenzen und der Oberfläche Hydroxid auf. Dies kann durch Heizen entfernt werden. Während der Messungen traten energetische Verschiebungen der Spektren auf, die die Auswertung der Grenzflächenenergetik stören. Zur Erklärung wurde folgendes Modell entwickelt: In einem schnellen Oberflächenprozess findet Photolyse von Hydroxid statt, wodurch H2O oder mobile OH-Gruppen gebildet werden, die Sauerstoffvakanzen ausheilen und so die n-Dotierung vermindern. In einem langsameren Volumenprozess wird durch Photolyse von ZnO die n-Dotierung erhöht.
Aggressive scaling of the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors resulted in the silicon dioxide (SiO2) gate dielectrics being as thin as 1.2 nm in the state-of-the-art high performance transistors. In consequence, the leakage current due to direct tunneling of electrons through the gate oxide increased significantly resulting in an unacceptably high level of power dissipation. For this reason, it is very desirable to replace the SiO2 gate dielectric with an insulator of a higher dielectric constant (high-k). The higher dielectric constant allows for the use of physically thicker dielectric layers with high capacitance densities but strongly reduced tunneling currents. This work focuses on the preparation and characterization of Praseodymium silicate high-k dielectric layers on Si(001) and evaluates the potential of this material to replace SiO2 as a gate dielectric in the state-of-the-art and future CMOS technology generations.