Investigation of the Chemical Evolution of InAs Native Oxide and Its Impact on the Surface Electronic Properties

Abstract

The evolution of compound semiconductor native oxides, formed under ambient conditions, remains poorly understood. Herein, we use XPS to study the evolution of the InAs native oxide using six samples with different surface preparation techniques. For times of exposure in ambient conditions between 2.5 min and 24 hours, the As-species composition varies significantly between samples during the exposures of less than 20 minutes. However, we find that after 2 hours, the oxide composition, thickness, and correlated semiconductor band-bending converges to values with much less variation.