Suppression of Ge–O and Ge–N bonding at Ge–HfO2 and Ge–TiO2 interfaces by deposition onto plasma-nitrided passivated Ge substrates

A study of changes in nano-scale morphology of thin films of nano-crystalline transition metal (TM) elemental oxides, HfO2 and TiO2, on plasma-nitrided Ge(100) substrates, and Si(100) substrates with ultra-thin (∼ 0.8 nm) plasma-nitrided Si suboxide, SiOx, x < 2, or SiON interfacial layers is presented. Near edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (NEXAS) has been used to determine nano-scale morphology of these films by Jahn–Teller distortion removal of band-edge d-state degeneracies. These results identify a new and novel application for NEXAS based on the resonant character of the respective O K1 and N K1 edge absorptions. Their X-ray energy difference of > 150 eV is critical for this approach.