A method has been developed for measuring the thickness of submonolayer native oxides formed on silicon wafers during rinsing. The method utilizes a rapid acid-etching process developed in our laboratory to strip the native oxide layer, followed by an analysis of the resultant solution for silicon using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy. It was found that the method is capable of detecting and clearly determining the variations of native oxide thickness within a monolayer range with a possible 0.2Å resolution. Using this method, the growth rate of ultra-thin native oxides on a HF-cleaned silicon (100) surface was studied at room temperature during an ultrapure water rinse.  Read more