Controlled positive and negative surface charge injection and erasure in a GaAs/AlGaAs based microdevice by scanning probe microscopy

Abstract

In this paper, we show that positive and negative charges can be injected into the surface of SiO(2)/Si(3)N(4)/SiO(2)/GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure material by using a biased tip of a scanning probe microscope. Furthermore, the injected charges can be erased with the same tip once grounded, working in slow scan and contact mode. Surface potential measurements by quantitative analysis of Kelvin probe force microscopy after drawing and erasing charges at room temperature are presented and discussed.

Stability of Charge Distributions in Electret Films on the nm-Scale

“…We find a linear relation between the externally applied charging potential and the charging state of the PEI Ultem 1000 films. A similar linear relationship has been reported for glass, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, inorganic heterostructure materials, as well other polymeric materials such as cycloolefin copolymer, polycarbonate, poly­(vinyl acetate) poly­(methyl methacrylate), and polyacrylamide. ,, The PEI films could be charged already with V charge = 1 V, while for various other polymeric materials thresholds >1 V have been reported. , Here, the highest charging voltage has been limited to 10 V due to the instrumental limitations. For this V charge , we find a relative surface potential of V CPD = 1.2 V. For the charging process, several mechanisms have been proposed, such as ion adsorption/injection from a water layer on the sample, ,, a process that is similar to liquid contact charging, , and field electron emission enhanced by thermionic emission. , For comparison, the analogous procedure has been tested also for an inorganic layer, namely, SiO 2 on a doped silicon wafer.…”

Self-sensing cantilevers with integrated conductive coaxial tips for high-resolution electrical scanning probe metrology

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] However, these tips were rudimentary in construction. More recently, several microfabricated coaxial tips have been reported [17][18][19][20] and some applied to electrical scanning probe techniques. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Self-sensing cantilevers have been demonstrated using capacitors, 28 piezoelectrics, 29 quartz tuning forks, 30 and piezoresistors.…”

Local charge storage and decay mechanism in silica

“…[9] Recent experiments reported on a threshold voltage for the charge writing process of about 1.6V for a different system, though a nearly linear relation between applied voltage and amount of stored charges. [10] *harald.graaf@physik.tu-chemnitz.de; phone +49 371 531-34807; fax +49 371 531-834807; www.tu-chemnitz.de/physik/OSMP/ This local charging can be used e.g. for the generation of complex charge patterns in even thinnest silicon oxide (2 to 4 nm) on silicon substrates.…”

“…[12] Another way to erase the charges was discussed by Valdre et al who showed that scanning with a grounded tip for about one hour led to a nearly total depletion of charges. [10] On the other hand a high stability has been shown in liquids with a low dielectric constant like Fluorocarbon FC-72 and benzene. [12] This high stability of charges in these low-dielectric-liquids was used for selective attachment of different proteins in a water-oil-micro emulsion by electrostatic interactions to create a multiprotein micro array.…”