title: Fabrication and characterization of Si quantum dots and SiO(2) tunnel barriers grown by a controlled oxidation process.
abstract: The control of the growth of silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) and the formation of quantum dots (QDs) play an important role in the fabrication of single-electron transistors (SETs). In this work, SET structures were fabricated using a systematic oxidation technique known as the pattern-dependent oxidation (PADOX) process. For comparison, two oxidation processes using conventional furnace and rapid thermal processing (RTP) were used. The oxidation temperature for both oxidation processes was set at 1000 °C and the oxygen flow rate in the furnace was set at 1 l min(-1). The nanostructures were characterized using AFM, SEM and TEM to determine the quality and the stoichiometry of the Si QDs and the oxides. The oxidation rate using a furnace is 0.36 nm s(-1), significantly lower than the RTP value which is 2.16 nm s(-1). Meanwhile, the oxygen contents in SiO(2) grown by furnace and RTP are approximately the same.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), Gunung Pati, Semarang, 50229, Republic of Indonesia.
authors.forename: Sutikno Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Madnasri
authors.forename: Uda
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hashim
authors.forename: Zul Azhar
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Zahid Jamal