The Effect of Surface Roughness on AES Depth Profile

Abstract

The effect of surface roughness on depth profile in Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) has been experimentally studied. Films of a-Si : H were prepared by the glow discharge decomposition of SiH₄ on substrates with various roughness and characterized by AES analysis. In AES depth profiles, the broadening width of a-Si : H/substrate interface increased with enhancing the roughness of the substrate. On the other hand, the decrease in Auger peak to peak intensity of a-Si : H layer is not observed. These results show that the broadening of iprofile is caused not by the sputter induced roughness, but by the surface roughness of the substrate. Consequently the broadening width (ΔW) of the interface is confirmed to be explained by expression as a function of X, such as ΔW=a·exp (b · X), where X is the roughness of substrate, and, a and b are coefficient.