The Si/SiO2 interface is populated by isolated trap states which modify its electronic properties. These traps are of critical interest for the development of semiconductor-based quantum sensors and computers, as well as nanoelectronic devices. Here, we study the electric susceptibility of the Si/SiO2 interface with nm spatial resolution using frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy to measure a patterned dopant delta-layer buried 2 nm beneath the silicon native oxide interface. We show that surface charge organization timescales, which range from 1-150 ns, increase significantly around interfacial states. We conclude that dielectric loss under time-varying gate biases at MHz and sub-MHz frequencies in metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitor device architectures is highly spatially heterogeneous over nm length scales. Supplemental GIFs can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.25546687
@article{arxiv.2306.13648,
title = {Spatially resolved dielectric loss at the Si/SiO$_2$ interface},
author = {Megan Cowie and Taylor J. Z. Stock and Procopios C. Constantinou and Neil Curson and Peter Grütter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.13648},
year = {2024}
}