Roussel Manuel, Talbot Etienne, Gourbilleau Fabrice, Pareige Philippe
Groupe de Physique des Matériaux, Université et INSA de Rouen, UMR CNRS 6634, Av, de l'université, BP 12, 76801 Saint Etienne du Rouvray, France.
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2011 Feb 23;6(1):164. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-6-164.
Silicon nanoclusters are of prime interest for new generation of optoelectronic and microelectronics components. Physical properties (light emission, carrier storage...) of systems using such nanoclusters are strongly dependent on nanostructural characteristics. These characteristics (size, composition, distribution, and interface nature) are until now obtained using conventional high-resolution analytic methods, such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, EFTEM, or EELS. In this article, a complementary technique, the atom probe tomography, was used for studying a multilayer (ML) system containing silicon clusters. Such a technique and its analysis give information on the structure at the atomic level and allow obtaining complementary information with respect to other techniques. A description of the different steps for such analysis: sample preparation, atom probe analysis, and data treatment are detailed. An atomic scale description of the Si nanoclusters/SiO2 ML will be fully described. This system is composed of 3.8-nm-thick SiO layers and 4-nm-thick SiO2 layers annealed 1 h at 900°C.
硅纳米团簇对于新一代光电子和微电子元件至关重要。使用此类纳米团簇的系统的物理性质（发光、载流子存储等）强烈依赖于纳米结构特征。迄今为止，这些特征（尺寸、组成、分布和界面性质）是使用传统的高分辨率分析方法获得的，如高分辨率透射电子显微镜、能量过滤透射电子显微镜或电子能量损失谱。在本文中，一种互补技术——原子探针断层扫描，被用于研究包含硅团簇的多层（ML）系统。这种技术及其分析提供了原子水平的结构信息，并允许获得相对于其他技术的互补信息。详细描述了此类分析的不同步骤：样品制备、原子探针分析和数据处理。将全面描述Si纳米团簇/SiO₂多层系统的原子尺度描述。该系统由3.8纳米厚的SiO层和4纳米厚的SiO₂层组成，在900°C下退火1小时。
