Chemical phase transitions of a Si oxide film on SiC by MeV electron beam irradiation

An ultrathin Si oxide film grown on a 6H-SiC(0001) wafer was irradiated with 1MeV electron beam to examine its effect on the chemical species of a Si oxide/SiC wafer, where the Si oxide film was composed of SiO2, Si suboxides (Si3+, Si2+, and Si1+), and Si oxycarbides (Si–C–O). Scanning photoelectron microscopy and Si 2p core-level spectroscopy show that e-beam irradiation induces chemical phase transitions from the Si suboxides and Si oxycarbides to SiO2. This suggests that e-beam irradiation is an efficient and simple method of producing a chemically uniform SiO2 film on SiC without thermal and chemical treatments.