We have utilized a visible in situ ellipsometer to investigate the growth of oxide surface layers on aluminum and silicon films deposited in an ultra high vacuum (UHV system. A single molecular layer of oxide f%rms on the aluminum film surface in 1 hour when exposed to a partial pressure of 2 x 10^-8 Torr of either oxygen or water vapor. The single molecular oxide layer that forms in 4 hours on silicon when exposed to 2.5 x 10^-8 Torr of oxygen is Si or, if the vacuum ion gauges are operating, but it appears to be SiO if these gauges are turned off during the layer formation. The time of formation of these layers is inversely proportional to pressure. The growth rate of the oxide surface layer drops dramatically after formation of this first morolayer on both aluminum and silicon. Other gases, such as methane and carbon monoxide were found to be essentially urreactive with the aluminum film.

Date Published: 1 January 1986
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 0733, Soft X-Ray Optics and Technology, (1 January 1986); doi: 10.1117/12.964906

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0733:
Soft X-Ray Optics and Technology
E. Koch; Guenther A. Schmahl, Editor(s)