Formation Of Semiconductor Interfaces

Semiconductor interfaces are of paramount importance in micro, nano- and optoelectronics. Basic as well as applied research on such systems is therefore of extremely high current interest. To meet the continuous need for a better understanding of semiconductor interfaces with respect to both their fundamental physical and chemical properties as well as their applications in modern opto- and microelectronics, the series of international conferences on the formation of semiconductor interfaces was begun. The fourth conference of the series held in Jülich addresses as main topics: clean semiconductor surfaces; adsorbates at semiconductor surfaces; metal-semiconductor, insulator-semiconductor and semiconductor-semiconductor interfaces; devices and wet chemical processes. The 12 invited lectures assess the present status of the research in important areas and about 180 contributed papers describe most recent achievements in the field.

The trend towards miniaturisation of microelectronic devices and the search for exotic new optoelectronic devices based on multilayers confer a crucial role on semiconductor interfaces. Great advances have recently been achieved in the elaboration of new thin film materials and in the characterization of their interfacial properties, down to the atomic scale, thanks to the development of sophisticated new techniques. This book is a collection of lectures that were given at the International Winter School on Semiconductor Interfaces: Formation and Properties held at the Centre de Physique des Rouches from 24 February to 6 March, 1987. The aim of this Winter School was to present a comprehensive review of this field, in particular of the materials and methods, and to formulate recom mendations for future research. The following topics are treated: (i) Interface formation. The key aspects of molecular beam epitaxy are emphasized, as well as the fabrication of artificially layered structures, strained layer superlattices and the tailoring of abrupt doping profiles. (ii) Fine characterization down to the atomic scale using recently devel oped, powerful techniques such as scanning tunneling microscopy, high reso lution transmission electron microscopy, glancing incidence x-ray diffraction, x-ray standing waves, surface extended x-ray absorption fine structure and surface extended energy-loss fine structure. (iii) Specific physical properties of the interfaces and their prospective applications in devices. We wish to thank warmly all the lecturers and participants, as well as the organizing committee, who made this Winter School a success.

The application of the 111-V compound semiconductors to device fabrica tion has grown considerably in the last few years. This process has been stimulated, in part, by the advancement in the understanding of the interface physics and chemistry of the III-V's. The literature on this subject is spread over the last 15 years and appears in many journals and conference proceedings. Understanding this literature requires consider able effort by the seasoned researcher, and even more for those starting out in the field or by engineers and scientists who wish to apply this knowledge to the fabrication of devices. The purpose of this book is to bring together much of the fundamental and practical knowledge on the physics and chemistry of the 111-V compounds with metals and dielectrics. The authors of this book have endeavored to provide concise overviews of these areas with many tahles ancI grarhs whic. h c. omr>are and summarize the literature. In this way, the book serves as both an insightful treatise on III-V interfaces and a handy reference to the literature. The selection of authors was mandated by the desire to include both fundamental and practical approaches, covering device and material aspects of the interfaces. All of the authors are recognized experts on III-V interfaces and each has worked for many years in his subject area. This experience is projected in the breadth of understanding in each chapter.

This book is concerned with the dynamic field of semiconductor microstructures and interfaces. Several topics in the fundamental properties of interfaces, superlattices and quantum wells are included, as are papers on growth techniques and applications. The papers deal with the interaction of theory, experiments and applications within the field, and the outstanding contributions are from both the academic and industrial worlds.