Angle-resolved XPS study on chemical bonds in ultrathin silicon oxynitride films

It was found by applying maximum entropy concept to angle-resolved Si 2p and N 1s photoelectron spectra that the distribution of nitrogen atoms and their bonding configurations in oxynitride films formed by nitridation of silicon oxide in nitrogen plasma followed by annealing is quite different from those in oxynitride films formed by nitridation of silicon oxide in NO ambient. Here, the nearest neighbors of silicon and nitrogen atoms determined from the deconvolution of Si 2p and N 1s spectra were considered.