Three‐Dimensional Atomic‐Scale Tomography of Buried Semiconductor Heterointerfaces

Abstract

Abstract Atom probes generate three‐dimensional atomic‐scale tomographies of material volumes corresponding to the size of modern‐day solid‐state devices. Here, the capabilities of atom probe tomography are evaluated to analyze buried interfaces in semiconductor heterostructures relevant for electronic and quantum devices. Employing brute‐force search, the current dominant reconstruction protocol to generate tomographic three‐dimensional images from Atom Probe data is advanced to its limits. Using Si/SiGe heterostructure for qubits as a model system, the authors show that it is possible to extract interface properties like roughness and width that agree with transmission electron microscopy observations on the sub‐nanometer scale in an automated and highly reproducible manner. The demonstrated approach is a versatile method for atomic‐scale characterization of buried interfaces in semiconductor heterostructures.

Keywords

• atom probe tomography
• atomic scale microscopy
• epitaxial interfaces
• semiconductor heterostructures