Spectroscopic investigations of hydrogen termination, oxide coverage, roughness, and surface state density of silicon during native oxidation in air

By simultaneous surface photovoltage (SPV) as well as ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) measurements on H-terminated Si(1 1 1) and Si(1 0 0) wafers as well as μc-Si:H surfaces directly after preparation and after storage in clean-room air, correlations were established between the preparation-induced surface morphology and the stability of the surface passivation against native oxidation. It was shown that the progression of the initial oxidation phase on differently prepared H-terminated and etched surfaces strongly depends on the remaining surface microroughness and interface state density.