Location and Visualization of Working p-n and/or n-p Junctions by XPS

Abstract

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to follow some of the electrical properties of a segmented silicon photodetector, fabricated in a p-n-p configuration, during operation under various biasing configurations. Mapping of the binding energy position of Si2p reveals the shift in the position of the junctions with respect to the polarity of the DC bias applied. Use of squared and triangular shaped wave excitations, while recording XPS data, allows tapping different electrical properties of the device under normal operational conditions, as well as after exposing parts of it to harsh physical and chemical treatments. Unique and chemically specific electrical information can be gained with this noninvasive approach which can be useful especially for localized device characterization and failure analyses.

The surface passivation mechanism of graphene oxide for crystalline silicon

“…Even though we have not been able to strongly correlate the observed extra peak to any of the previously reported XPS emission data, some authors have demonstrated that similar changes in Si/SiO2 interface band-bending can be probed by XPS measurements of the Si 2p peak shifting [7], [9]- [11]. In our case we do observe a slight shift from the Si 2p peak upon GO deposition, but it is rather a strong peak splitting what we believe to exhibit the differential charging at the interface.…”

“…If our assignment is correct it may be possible then to correlate the depth of the depleted region to the surface/bulk doublet ratio and perhaps aid the current limitation of the proposed method in Ref. [11].…”

How flat is the flatband potential?

“…As described elsewhere, such setup conguration can be used for pseudo-operando characterizations. 41,42 The BAEE data are potential corrected for being compared with the data collected during the interface experiments (see Fig. S5 †).…”

Doubly triggered conductance across thin zinc oxysulfide films

“…Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), it is often possible to resolve in a noncontact manner the electrostatic potential at selected domains. As previously demonstrated by chemically resolved electrical measurements (CREM), the electron analyzer acts then as a chemically selective voltmeter, [12][13][14][15] allowing for the subtleties of charge trapping and internal fields in heterojunctions to be identified. 16 Here, we exploit recent instrumental developments in our CREM setup for the study of ZnOS.…”