Oxide-free InSb (100) surfaces by molecular hydrogen cleaning

Journal Article · Mon Jan 16 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2162702· OSTI ID:20778626

Tessler, R; Saguy, C; Klin, O; Greenberg, S; Weiss, E; Akhvlediani, R; Edrei, R; Hoffman, A ^[1]; SCD-Semi-conductor Devices, Haifa 31201 ^[2]

---

1. Physics Department, Technion--Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
2. Israel

We report that annealing of an oxidized InSb (100) single-crystal sample at 250 deg. C under molecular hydrogen flow [molecular hydrogen cleaning (MHC)] results in complete desorption of the surface oxides. Following this process, the surface morphology is found to be very smooth at the nanometric scale without any droplet structure and a nearly 1:1 In:Sb stoichiometry. MHC was applied to remove the native oxide of an epi-ready InSb(100) substrate used for molecular beam epitaxy growth of InSb films. These results suggest that MHC of InSb can be used as a very effective cleaning process for epitaxial film growth.

• OSTI ID: 20778626
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2162702; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
AUGER ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DESORPTION
DROPLETS
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
HYDROGEN
INDIUM ANTIMONIDES
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
MONOCRYSTALS
MORPHOLOGY
OXIDES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
STOICHIOMETRY
SUBSTRATES
SURFACE CLEANING
SURFACE PROPERTIES
THIN FILMS
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY