Kinetics of pulsed ultraviolet laser induced oxidation of c‐Ge: The role of optical coupling and material losses

Ultraviolet pulsed laser induced oxidation kinetics of crystalline germanium (c‐Ge) is determined from real‐time optical measurements in conjunction with absolute measurements of the oxygen incorporation performed by nuclear reaction analysis. Although the oxidation process can be triggered at laser fluences initially below the melting threshold of c‐Ge, it is strongly activated when surface melting occurs and therefore the fast oxidation process observed is mainly a thermally activated process. Because an optical coupling between the oxide layer and the c‐Ge underneath, the growth kinetics is complex and leads to nonconstant rates. The oxygen incorporation reaches a saturation value which depends both on the laser fluence and the oxygen pressure. The results show that the oxygen incorporation is limited by an overlapped laser‐induced material removal process rather than by the diffusion length of oxygen species.