Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme
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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 17: Poster Session I (Nanostructures at Surfaces; Metal Substrates: Epitaxy and Growth; Methods: Scanning Probe Techniques; Phase Transitions)
O 17.48: Poster
Monday, March 26, 2007, 17:30–20:30, Poster C
Preparation and Characterization of Silicon Carbide Surfaces for Scanning Probe Microscopy Studies — •Kai Ruschmeier1, Domenique Weiner1, André Schirmeisen1, Harald Fuchs1, Nabi Aghdassi2, Ralf Ostendorf2, and Helmut Zacharias2 — 1CeNTech, Center for NanoTechnology, Heisenbergstraße 11, 48149 Münster — 2Physikalisches Institut, Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, 48149 Münster
Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor that due to its unique properties is particularly well suited for electronic devices under extreme conditions, such as high temperature, high voltage and high frequency. However, the fabrication of adequate substrate surfaces, which is an important step in the production technology of high performance devices, is difficult because of its mechanical hardness and chemical inertness. We applied hydrogen etching at high temperatures to epilayer SiC substrates to reduce scratches of the polishing process and prepared different surface configurations by simultaneous annealing and evaporation of Si at different sample temperatures. We used LEED to verify several reconstructions such as (1 × 1), (3 × 3) and (√3 × √3). Additionally, the surface was analyzed with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and inverse photoemission spectroscopy (IPES). We applied scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) in ultrahigh vacuum to analyse the surface topology at different stages of the preparation process. Our aim is to study different surface configurations with noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) at the atomic scale.