Electronic structures of SiO2 thin films via Ar gas cluster ion beam sputtering

The electronic structure of a SiO2 thin film on a Si substrate after Ar gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) sputtering was investigated using photoemission spectroscopy whose results were compared with those obtained via mono-atomic Ar ion beam sputtering. The depth profile of the SiO2 thin film revealed that Ar ion sputtering had a great deal of influence on electronic structure of the SiO2 thin film. However, Ar GCIB sputtering under sample rotation at the grazing incident angle did not exhibit any significant transition of electronic structure of the SiO2 thin film. The valence band structure of the SiO2 thin film during Ar GCIB sputtering was almost the same as that of the as-grown SiO2 thin film. Our results showed that Ar GCIB could be useful for potential applications of oxide materials. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.