Auger analysis of chlorine in ``HCl- or Cl2-grown'' SiO2 films

Abstract

Auger analysis of SiO₂ films thermally grown in O₂ in the presence of HCl or Cl₂ shows that the incorporated Cl is unstable during the measurement. Cl profiling and mass‐spectrometric sampling indicate that ionized Cl is transported in the electric field to the vacuum‐oxide interface where it is desorbed by high‐energy electrons. This instability restricts the usefulness of the Auger technique.