Effect of dopants and interlayers on the growth of thin insulating films

Surface morphologies of thin dielectric films deposited on gallium arsenide substrates are studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The quasi-periodi c mesostructure with a corrugated configuration is found to form during the deposition process, A special dopant and thin interlayer at the film-subst rate interface are used to decrease the surface roughness. The corrugated S ixNyOz-SiO2 film surface disappears by introducing Se atoms into the subsur face layer of the semiconductor. The root-mean-square roughness and the fra ctal dimension techniques are used for the numerical characterization of th e surface morphologies of thin insulator films. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.