Controlled surface charging as a depth-profiling probe for mesoscopic layers

Ilanit Doron-Mor, Anat Hatzor, Alexander Vaskevich, Tamar van der Boom-Moav, Abraham Shanzer, Israel Rubinstein () and Hagai Cohen
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Ilanit Doron-Mor: Department of Materials and Interfaces
Anat Hatzor: Department of Materials and Interfaces
Alexander Vaskevich: Department of Materials and Interfaces
Tamar van der Boom-Moav: Department of Organic Chemistry
Abraham Shanzer: Department of Organic Chemistry
Israel Rubinstein: Department of Materials and Interfaces
Hagai Cohen: Weizmann Institute of Science

Nature, 2000, vol. 406, issue 6794, 382-385

Abstract: Abstract Probing the structure of material layers just a few nanometres thick requires analytical techniques with high depth sensitivity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy1 (XPS) provides one such method, but obtaining vertically resolved structural information from the raw data is not straightforward. There are several XPS depth-profiling methods, including ion etching2, angle-resolved XPS (ref. 2) and Tougaard's approach3, but all suffer various limitations2,3,4,5. Here we report a simple, non-destructive XPS depth-profiling method that yields accurate depth information with nanometre resolution. We demonstrate the technique using self-assembled multilayers on gold surfaces; the former contain ‘marker’ monolayers that have been inserted at predetermined depths. A controllable potential gradient is established vertically through the sample by charging the surface of the dielectric overlayer with an electron flood gun. The local potential is probed by measuring XPS line shifts, which correlate directly with the vertical position of atoms. We term the method ‘controlled surface charging’, and expect it to be generally applicable to a large variety of mesoscopic heterostructures.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35019025

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