Surface and interface morphologies of ultrathin oxynitrides films formed on Si(100)

Morphologies of oxynitride/Si interfaces and oxynitride surfaces were studied using noncontact-mode atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for five nitrogen concentrations at and near the interface. The following results were obtained: 1) Morphologies of the oxynitride/Si interfaces are weakly affected by the amount of nitrogen atoms below 0.37 monolayers, while the roughness of the oxynitride/Si interface increases with increasing the amount of nitrogen atoms above 0.37 monolayers. 2) These interface morphologies were found to be reflected in the surface morphologies of oxynitride films.