MEASUREMENTS OF THIN OXIDE-FILMS OF SIO2/SI(100)

The O-16(d, p)O-17 nuclear reaction yield has been employed to measure the thickness of thin silicon dioxide films (0.7 - 12.5 nm) grown over Si(100) substrates, using incident deuterons with an energy of 825 keV and a detection angle of 150-degrees. Interfering spectral contributions from proton groups originating with the Si-28(d, p)Si-29 reaction have been removed using data from a H-passivated Si surface. The channeling effect can be exploited to further reduce the nuclear reaction background yield from the substrate, resulting in a detection limit for oxygen of approximately 3 x 10(14) atoms cm-2 with a precision of approximately 8%. The utility of these measurements is discussed with reference to film thickness calibrations for XPS data.