AVS 45th International Symposium
    Thin Films Division Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuA

Paper TF-TuA8
Direct Three-Dimensional Characterization of Buried Interface Morphology with Quantized Electron Waves

Tuesday, November 3, 1998, 4:20 pm, Room 310

Session: In-situ Characterization of Thin Films
Presenter: D.M. Chen, The Rowland Institute for Science
Authors: I.B. Altfeder, The Rowland Institute for Science
D.M. Chen, The Rowland Institute for Science
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We present a novel in situ and nondestructive technique for characterizing buried interfaces in metal/semiconductor heteroepitaxy. The principle of the technique is based on the quantum confinement of the internal electron source in the metal film. Due to the high sensitivity of the quantized electron waves to the boundary conditions, discrete interference fringes are formed spontaneously on the surface of the film and can be directly imaged by a scanning tunneling microscope.@footnote 1@ These fringes coincide precisely with the substrate atomic terraces so that the metal appears to be "transparent". The absolute depth of the film, on the other hand, can be accurately determined form the tunnel I-V measurements of the quantized energy spectra near the Fermi level, hence making it possible to characterize the buried interface morphology in all three dimensions nondestructively. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@I. B. Altfeder, K. A. Matveev, and D. M. Chen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2815 (1997).