Accurate depth profiling of oxidized SiGe (intrinsic or doped) thin films by extended Full Spectrum ToF-SIMS

Abstract The abundance of work on SiGe based devices demonstrates the importance of compositional characterization of such materials. However, SIMS characterization of SiGe layers often suffers from matrix effects due to non-linear variation of ionization yields with Ge content. Moreover, the presence of oxide in these layers would definitely increase the difficulty to obtain quantitative profiles by SIMS. We highlight here the improvements brought by the extended Full Spectrum protocol, presented in previous works and allowing minimization of matrix effects in SiGe matrices compared with more classic protocols. This results in more accurate depth profiles, and thus brings better comprehension of the behavior of intrinsic and doped layers under dry or wet oxidizing.