Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy on gate insulators

This work reviews the study of the chemical composition and the chemical structure of ultrathin oxynitride films using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The nearest and the second nearest neighbors of a nitrogen atom in oxynitride films were determined from the deconvolution of N 1s spectra. It was found by applying maximum entropy concept to the angle resolved Si 2p and N 1s photoelectron spectra that the distribution of nitrogen atoms and their bonding configurations in oxynitride films formed by the plasma nitridation is quite different from those in oxynitride films formed by the interface nitridation.