Modern analytical techniques are useful to characterize oxide films and to study oxide
growth processes. This paper will summarize some of our work on the high temperature oxidation
of both metals and semiconductors. Systems considered include binary III-V semiconductors, e.g.
GaAs, which unlike silicon does not normally form high-quality native oxide. For GaAs, the
influence of deuterium in the substrate and surface platinum have been evaluated with respect to
oxide growth. Both aluminum-containing alloys (FeCrAl and NiAl) and semiconductors (AlGaAs,
InAlAs and InAlP) are included. The objective is to produce good quality protective and insulating
aluminum-containing oxides. In these studies, the application of several modern surface- analytical
techniques, particularly Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and
secondary ion mass spectrometry, complemented by other techniques, e.g. transmission electron
microscopy and X-ray analysis provides useful information on the chemical composition of the
oxides and leads to a better understanding of oxidation and corrosion phenomena. In the case of
AlGaAs and InAlP, thermal oxidation produces aluminum-containing oxides that have good
insulating characteristics which makes the oxide films potentially useful for some device
applications.
Legitimacies of the growth of oxide films on ion-modified samples from the alloy E110 at high-temperature oxidation