Second harmonic generation as a technique to probe buried interfaces
Date
2009
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science for South Africa
Abstract
Since the advances of femtosecond laser technology during the last decade, optical second harmonic generation (SHG) has proven itself a powerful tool to investigate the electronic and structural properties of semiconductor materials. Its advantage lies in the fact that it is a contact-less, non-intrusive method that can be used in situ. It is sensitive to systems with broken symmetry, in particular interfaces and surfaces. The Si/SiO 2 system is technologically important since it forms a component of most modern electronic equipment. Furthermore, it has been shown that it is possible to induce an electric field across this Interface by means of laser irradiation as a result of defect formation and defect population. This electric field can be measured since it determines the SHG signal. The anisotropy of the SHG signal from the Sl/SiO 2 interface was measured and showed four-fold symmetry, illustrating that the SHG technique was able to characterise the electrical properties of the interface below the 5 nm thick oxide layer.
Description
CITATION: Neethling, P. H., et al. 2009. Second harmonic generation as a technique to probe buried interfaces. South African Journal of Science, 105(7-8):828-284.
The original publication is available at http://archive.sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at http://archive.sajs.co.za
Keywords
Second harmonic generation, Electric fields
Citation
Neethling, P. H., et al. 2009. Second harmonic generation as a technique to probe buried interfaces. South African Journal of Science, 105(7-8):828-284