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Type: 
Journal
Description: 
We present an analytical methodology, based on electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy, which allows us to quantify the clustered silicon concentration in annealed substoichiometric silicon oxide layers, deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The clustered Si volume fraction was deduced from a fit to the experimental EELS spectrum using a theoretical description proposed to calculate the dielectric function of a system of spherical particles of equal radii, located at random in a host material. The methodology allowed us to demonstrate that the clustered Si concentration is only one half of the excess Si concentration dissolved in the layer.
Publisher: 
American Institute of Physics
Publication date: 
25 Jul 2005
Authors: 

Corrado Spinella, Corrado Bongiorno, Giuseppe Nicotra, Emanuele Rimini, Anna Muscarà, Salvo Coffa

Biblio References: 
Volume: 87 Issue: 4 Pages: 044102
Origin: 
Applied Physics Letters