Effect of dopants and interlayers on the growth of thin insulating films

Surface morphologies of thin dielectric films deposited on gallium arsenide substrates are studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The quasi-periodic mesostructure with a corrugated configuration is found to form during the deposition process, A special dopant and thin interlayer at the film-substrate interface are used to decrease the surface roughness. The corrugated SixNyOz-SiO2 film surface disappears by introducing Se atoms into the subsurface layer of the semiconductor. The root-mean-square roughness and the fractal dimension techniques are used for the numerical characterization of the surface morphologies of thin insulator films. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.