In an ideal case, the interface at OSJ is atomically abrupt, meaning that it is only one or few atomic layers thick. In practice, however, OSJs have extended (diffused) interfaces because of the reactivity between their constituents. A strong exothermic reaction often occurs between oxygen and semiconductor, which is diffi cult to avoid during manufacturing of OSJs. Such semiconductor oxidation has been found to cause electronic defect states around the semiconductor bandgap, which degrade the device operation. Therefore, the semiconductor oxidation has attracted great scientifi c and technological interest. Besides, there might be the second serious problem in the development of OSJs. Recent computational studies have shown that the interaction of the second (nonoxygen) element with semiconductor can play an essential role in formation of OSJs. [ 20,21 ] Thus, the problem can be twofold: how to avoid (or minimize) the harmful reaction of semiconductor crystal with each of elements (oxygen and nonoxygen) at OSJ systems.Here we present an experimental evidence for the twofold problem, and suggest a method to overcome it. We have investigated OSJs that contain the prototypical SiO 2 or SiO x N y fi lm on GaInAs(100), GaAs(100), and Ge(100) semiconductors by means of photoluminescence (PL), capacitance-voltage ( C -V ), and synchrotron-radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) measurements. The results clearly indicate a harmful effect of substrate interaction with silicon. For this reason, we have developed a simple approach to control the detrimental semiconductor surface reactivity at OSJs.In the beginning, we have investigated the III-V semiconductor interaction with silicon by means of PL measurements where the PL intensity is sensitive to the density of bandgap defects at the interface. PL emission was measured at room temperature (RT) (all other measurements described below were performed at RT as well) by using Nd:YAG laser ( λ exc = 532 nm) and InGaAs photodetector array or Avantes AvaSpec-2084×14 CCD spectrometer. The GaInAs substrates were grown on InP(100) by molecular beam epitaxy. A protective arsenic cap layer was removed by heating at 400 °C in the ultra-high vacuum (UHV). Then, a 1-2 nm thick Si layer was in situ deposited on the clean GaInAs(100)(4×2) surface, and afterward the Si-covered GaInAs sample was exposed to NH 3 gas at 300-400 °C to form SiN x . After the nitridation, Si 2p, Si 2s, and N 1s core-level photoemissions were verifi ed from the resulting SiN x /GaInAs(100) by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Finally, a 3 nm thick Al 2 O 3 fi lm was grown on top of SiN x /GaInAs(100) Semiconductor devices, such as transistors, solar cells, LEDs, laser diodes, and sensors usually consist of a stack of an oxide fi lm and a semiconductor crystal even though the oxide fi lm is not grown on purpose (semiconductor surface parts become at least oxidized during the component manufacturing). [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] One of the most well-known device examples ...
