AUGER LINESHAPE ANALYSIS OF POROUS SILICON - EXPERIMENT AND THEORY

Different samples of porous Si have been investigated through Auger el ectron spectroscopy, The Si LVV lineshape of porous Si is different wi th respect to that of pure Si and the main peak is shifted to lower ki netic energies. Porous Si is modeled by a first-principle calculation of the electronic states of thin silicon wires (LMTO-ASA method). The main experimental finding is related to the new properties of the vale nce states in porous Si. The calculated Auger lineshape provides an in terpretation of the characteristic shape of the measured spectra. We p rove that the confinement shift is not detected by the Si L(2.3)VV Aug er signal and that the Si atoms probed are bonded with H and H-2.