Studying the insulatorconductor interface with a scanning tunneling microscope
Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 1352 (1995); doi:10.1063/1.113198
Issue Date: 13 March 1995
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We suggest that a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) may be used for investigating the insulatorconductor interface, in particular SiO2/Si, at nanometer scale. For an insulating film transparent to tunneling, we estimate, using a simple model, the roughness of the interface from the STM image. It is found that the interface roughness is less than the roughness of the image surface times the ratio of effective decay lengths in the film and in vacuum. For relatively wide films, of order 10 nm, STM measurement in the field emission regime can give the interface image with 1 nm precision. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.
| History: | Received 7 September 1994; accepted 16 January 1995 |
| Permalink: |
http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/66/1352/1 |
KEYWORDS and PACS
- 61.16.Ch
Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography Electron microscopy and other methods Scanning probe microscopy: scanning tunneling, atomic force, magnetic, etc. - 68.35.Bs
Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties) Solid surfaces and solid
solid interfaces
Atomic and molecular structure; crystal shapes; surface topography
- 73.40.Qv
Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, and thin films Electronic transport in interface structures Metal
insulator
semiconductor structures (including semiconductor-to-insulator)
- YEAR: 1995
RELATED DATABASES
PUBLICATION DATA
0003-6951 (print)
1077-3118 (online)
REFERENCES (9)
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