Abstract :
We investigated the distribution of tunneling current through ultrathin oxide films on Si 111. with an atomic force
microscope AFM.using a conductive tip. The oxides were grown in dry O2 at 6008C with or without post-oxidation
annealing. For the oxide without post-oxidation annealing, we observed high tunneling current in the vicinity of step edges,
which could be attributed to localized interface states around the step edges, while we could not detect such localized states
for the oxides with post-oxidation annealing in H2. This is an evidence that the localization states are active interface states
and therefore, they were terminated with hydrogen during annealing. These results were supported by the conventional
current–voltage I–V.measurement on metal oxide semiconductor MOS.capacitors with 1.5-nm-thick oxides, showing the
larger current for the substrates with the higher step density. The tunneling current was drastically reduced after the
post-oxidation annealing. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
