I need to inspect the surface topography of SiO2 (oxide layer) of Si-SiO2 semiconductor. What I wanted to know is whether or not I can use RCA1 or RCA-2 on SiO2 layer. Since both the processes cause weak oxidation then it should not affect the SiO2 surface, right?
Is there a better way to clean the SiO2 surface before experiments?
Yes. SC-1 is good for removal of organic contamination as well as some group IB and IIB metals and SC-2 will remove metal hydroxide contamination. If your NH4OH concentration is too high, you may see some surface roughening (20:2:1 - H2O:H2O2:NH4OH is common).
Adding to the colleague above:
rca1 and rca2 are standard cleaning procedure before any further processing such as diffusion or any other process. From the conceptual point of view you can use such solutions to clean the surface of the silicon dioxide. Except you must be cautious with the diluted HF etch since it etches the silicon dioxide. While the H2O2 will not form any oxide layer because you apply it already on the silicon dioxide surface. It builds such oxide layer for silicon surface cleaning. Therefore, if your silicon dioxide is thick, etching a very thin layer may remove the layers at the surface and produce fresh silicon dioxide surface. If your oxide is thin you may drop the etching with very diluted HF.
wish you success
- Dear sangam, You can use the RCA1 and RCA2 process but you can also use the degresing process followed by pirahana clenaning. In this case there is less chance to be deposited of thin native oxide as well. If you want to examine correctly the depoisted sio2 then after the clening process, i suggest you to provide a HF dip in low concentration like 10:1 ratio of water and HF. This causes your depoisted oxide will be clear and you can examine it in well manner.
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