S. Fujita et al., OBSERVATION OF OXIDE SI(001)-INTERFACE DURING LAYER-BY-LAYER OXIDATION BY SCANNING REFLECTION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY/, Applied physics letters, 71(7), 1997, pp. 885-887
We have found that terrace contrast of oxidized Si(001) substrate obse
rved with a scanning reflection electron microscopy (SREM) is reversed
by progress in thermal oxidation by one atomic layer of Si. The cause
for such terrace contrast reversion is that reflection electron inten
sity depends on Si-bond direction at oxide/Si interface. This fact was
confirmed by calculations based on a multiple scattering theory. The
motion of oxide/Si-bulk interface can be, thus, observed by SREM. The
reversion and continuous change of the terrace contrast indicate that
oxidation occurs monolayer by monolayer on Si(001) substrate. (C) 1997
American Institute of Physics.