Unusual oxidation-induced core-level shifts at the HfO₂/InP interface.

ABSTRACT: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is one of the most used methods in a diverse field of materials science and engineering. The elemental core-level binding energies (BE) and core-level shifts (CLS) are determined and interpreted in the XPS. Oxidation is commonly considered to increase the BE of the core electrons of metal and semiconductor elements (i.e., positive BE shift due to O bonds), because valence electron charge density moves toward electronegative O atoms in the intuitive charge-transfer model. Here we demonstrate that this BE hypothesis is not generally valid by presenting XPS spectra and a consistent model of atomic processes occurring at HfO₂/InP interface including negative In CLSs. It is shown theoretically for abrupt HfO₂/InP model structures that

SUBMITTER: Makela J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6365577 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature