Oxidation studies of amorphous and crystalline germanium films by Auger spectroscopy

Using Auger spectroscopy and ion-beam etching, we have studied the room-temperature oxidation of sputtered and electron-beam-evaporated germanium films. Large differences are observed between the oxygen profiles of sputtered and e-beam amorphous films. Sputtered amorphous films have only a very thin layer of oxide on the surface (4–5 Å), possibly because the presence of argon in the films inhibits further oxidation. In e-beam amorphous films, the heavily oxidized layer is also thin (7–8 Å), but some oxygen is present as far as 200 Å into the samples.