STUDY BY AES AND EELS OF InP, InSb, InPO_4 AND In_xGa_(1-x)As SUBMITTED TO ELECTRON IRRADIATION

摘要

The surface of materials plays an important role in their technological applications. In the interest to study the stability of materials and their behavior, we irradiate them by the electrons by using the electron spectroscopy such as the Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and the electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). These methods have proved their good sensitivity to study material surfaces. In this paper, we give some results about the effect of the electron beam irradiating the compounds InP, InSb, InPO_4 and In_xGa_(1-x)As. The III-V semiconductors InP and InSb seem to be sensitive to the electron irradiation. This breaks the chemical bonds between the element III andVwhich leads to an oxidation process at the surface. The AES and EELS spectroscopy are also used to characterize the oxide InPO_4 whose thickness is about 10A grown on the substrate InP(100). The irradiation of the system InPO_4/InP(100) by the electron beam of 5 keV energy leads to a structural change of the surface, so that there is breaking of chemical bonds between indium and phosphorus (In-P) and formation of new oxide other than InPO_4. In this study we show an important result concerning the effect of the electron beam on the compound In_xGa_(1-x)As by varying the parameter x to obtain In0.2Ga0.8As and In_(0:53)Ga_(0:47)As. It appears that the electron beam affects In_(0.2)Ga_(0.8)As too much in comparison with In_(0:53)Ga_(0:47)As. In the case of the irradiation of In_(0.2)Ga_(0.8)As, there is breaking of chemical bonds between indium and GaAs leading to formation of indium oxide associated to GaAs.