Ion-induced transformations of a W–Si interface

Tungsten silicide formation in multilayer tungsten/silicon structure was investigated. The W–Si multilayers were deposited on thermally oxidized silicon wafers using the dual-target magnetron sputtering. Deposition of the whole stack of sublayers was carried out without breaking vacuum in order to eliminate contamination or oxidation of the interfaces between sublayers. Samples were annealed in the RTA furnace at temperatures ranging from 700 °C up to 1050 °C. Some of the structures were irradiated with argon ion beam before annealing. Reactions between sublayers were studied using SEM imaging of cross-sectional cleavages and by X-ray diffraction analysis. Influence of the irradiation with argon ion beam on structural transformations was investigated using RBS analysis. It has been found that tungsten silicide formation depends on the deposition sequence. The reaction was more effective on interfaces between silicon layer deposited on tungsten then on interface between tungsten deposited on silicon. Ion beam mixing experiment showed that ion–target interaction promotes formation of the WSi₂ phase.     

Effects of annealing on the formation of Mg2Si film prepared by resistive thermal evaporation method

The effects of annealing time and temperature on the formation and structure of magnesium silicide (Mg₂Si) films were investigated. Magnesium films of 380 nm thickness were deposited on Si (111) substrates using resistive thermal evaporation method. The films were then annealed in an annealing furnace under a low vacuum atmosphere of 10^?1–10^?2 Pa. The results showed that the crystallization quality of Mg₂Si films was strongly affected by the annealing time and temperature. Annealing at 400 °C for 4 h was the optimal preparation conditions for Mg₂Si films.     

Schottky barrier characteristics of Pt contacts to all sputtering-made n-type GaN and MOS diodes

All sputtering-made Pt/n-GaN [metal–semiconductor (MS)] and Pt/SiO₂/n-GaN [metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS)] diodes were investigated before and after annealing at 500 °C. n-GaN, Pt, and SiO₂ films were all fabricated by the cost-effective radio-frequency sputtering technique. A cermet target was used for depositing GaN. The Schottky barrier heights (SBHs) of both MS and MOS Schottky diodes have been investigated by the current–voltage (I–V) measurements. The results showed that SBHs increased after annealing at 500 °C for 20 min in N₂ ambient, compared to the as-deposited at 400 °C. By using Cheung’s and Norde methods, the highest SBHs of MOS Schottky diodes were respectively found to be 0.79 and 0.91 eV for the as-deposited and had reached to 0.81 and 0.94 eV after annealing. The annealed Schottky diode had showed the higher SBH, lower leakage current, smaller ideality factor, and denser microstructure.     

A single phase semiconducting Ca-silicide film growth by sputtering conditions,annealing temperature and annealing time

Ca films were directly deposited on Si(100) substrates under the same sputtering power and Ar flux by Radio frequency (R.F.) magnetron sputtering system (MS) and were subsequently annealed at 800 °C for 90 min in a vacuum furnace. The structural and morphological features of the resultant films are tested by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX). The cubic phase Ca₂Si film, the simple orthorhombic phase Ca₂Si film, and the tetragonal phase Ca₅Si₃ film are grown directly and individually on Si(100) substrates, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the selective growth of a single phase Ca-silicide from Ca–Si system of the existence of multiple silicide phases depends on sputtering conditions, annealing temperature, and annealing time. Besides, 800 °C is the adaptive annealing temperature for a single phase Ca-silicide film growth.     

DLTS study of the influence of annealing on deep level defects induced in xenon ions implanted n-type 4H-SiC

In this study, nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC samples were bombarded with 167 MeV xenon ions to a fluence of 1?×?10⁸ cm^?2 at 300 K prior to the fabrication of Schottky barrier diodes. The implanted samples were annealed at approximately 900 °C for 1 h before the resistive evaporation of nickel Schottky barrier diodes. In comparing the current–voltage results of the implanted devices with as-deposited ones, generation-recombination took place in the implanted Schottky barrier diodes. Four defects (100, 120, 170, and 650 meV) were present in as-deposited Schottky barrier diodes when characterized by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). In addition to the defects observed in the as-deposited samples, two additional defects with activation energies of 400 and 700 meV below the conduction band minimum were induced by Xe ions implantation. The two deep level defects present have signatures similar to defects present after irradiated by MeV electron. The two defects present after irradiation disappeared after annealing at 400 °C which indicate instability of the defects after annealing implanted samples.

     

Influence of rapid thermal annealing on the process of aluminum induced crystallization of amorphous Si

The effects of annealing methods on the crystallization process and microstructure of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films obtained by aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous Si (a-Si) films were comparatively investigated. Glass/Al/a-Si structures were annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and conventional furnace at 500 °C for different times in Ar. As compared to furnace annealing, AIC of a-Si films annealed by RTA possesses a shorter period of nucleation time, a higher nucleation density and reduces the process time to form continuous poly-Si films. It is revealed that the continuous Si films obtained by both RTA and conventional furnace annealing are polycrystalline in nature, exhibiting good microstructures with Raman peaks at 518 cm^?1 and full-width at half-maximums of 6.43–6.48 cm^?1.     

Aluminum/nickel silicide contacts on silicon

The results of a study of the interaction occurring at elevated temperatures between nickel silicide contacts on n-type 〈111〉 silicon and a thin aluminum overlayer are presented. The electrical and structural characteristics of the Al-nickel silicide interaction were investigated using Schottky barrier diodes, Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. As-grown diodes were found to consist mainly of NiSi and the NiSi-Si interface exhibited a Schottky barrier energy φ_Bn of 0.62 eV. Upon heat treatment the NiSi layer was transformed to the intermetallic NiAl₃, and the barrier energy for the resulting NiAl₃-Si interface was found to be 0.76 eV. The electrical characteristics of the NiAl₃ layer were stable up to 500°C and no evidence of aluminum penetration into the silicon substrate was found.     

Electrical, structural and morphological characteristics of rapidly annealed Pd/n-InP (100) Schottky structure

The electrical and structural properties of the Pd/InP (100) Schottky barrier diodes have been investigated as a function of annealing temperature by current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The Schottky barrier height of the as-deposited, 100 and 200°C annealed contacts determined from the I–V and C–V measurements are 0.56 and 0.81 eV, 0.57 and 0.81 eV, and 0.58 and 0.82 eV, respectively. However, both the measurements showed that the Schottky barrier height of the Pd/n-InP Schottky contact is increased to 0.59 eV (I–V) and 0.83 eV (C–V) when the contact is annealed at 300°C for 1 min in nitrogen atmosphere. Further Schottky barrier height decreases to 0.57 eV (I–V), 0.71 eV (C–V) and 0.53 eV (I–V), 0.67 eV (C–V) after annealing at 400 and 500°C samples. The result shows that the optimum annealing temperature for the Pd/InP Schottky diode is 300°C. Norde method is also used to determine the barrier height of Pd Schottky contacts and the values are 0.56 eV for the as-deposited contact, 0.57, 0.57, 0.58, 0.57 and 0.54 eV for contacts annealed at 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500°C which are consistent with the values obtained by the I–V measurements. From the atomic force microscopy results, it is evident that the overall surface morphology of the Pd/InP Schottky diode is fairly smooth. Based on the XRD results, the formation of phosphorus-oxygen compounds at the interface may be responsible for the variation in barrier heights observed in Pd/InP Schottky contacts with annealing temperature.     

Limitation of Ti/TiN diffusion barrier layers in silicon technology

The usefulness of Ti/TiN and TiSi₂/TiN bilayers as low resistive contacts and diffusion barriers between doped silicon and aluminium has been examined. The Ti layer was magnetron sputtered and the TiN layers were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering in an argon/nitrogen mixture. After Ti/TiN deposition part of the samples were annealed in a vacuum furnace to form a TiSi₂/TiN structure. The films were characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and resistivity measurements. The integrity of the final metallization systems, with aluminium as top level, for annealing temperatures in the range 400–600°C was evaluated by RBS and electrical measurements on fully processed test vehicles containing structures for contact resistivity measurements and shallow implanted gated diodes. A significant discrepancy has been observed between recorded RBS data and electrical measurements. No reaction was detected by RBS at temperatures below 525°C although a significant degradation of the electrical performance was readily observed at lower annealing temperatures, e.g. an increase in contact resistance and large reverse leakage currents. It is concluded that RBS, commonly used in the study of diffusion barrier properties, gives optimistic information on the upper limit of the metallurgical stability of the barrier layers, whereas other factors such as step coverage, compositional variation and mechanical stress are of predominant significance when actual device metallization is concerned.     

Annealing temperature effects on ferromagnetism and structure of Si1−xMnx films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Si_1−xMn_x diluted magnetic semiconductor films were deposited on the p-Si (100) single crystal wafer using magnetron sputtering method. Post-rapid thermal annealing treatments were performed at temperatures of 700 °C, 800 °C, and 900 °C in an argon atmosphere for approximately 5 min. Alternating gradient magnetometer, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra were employed to characterize magnetic properties and structure of the as-grown and annealed films. The films were about 2.8 μm thick and the RMS roughness of the surface was about 5-10 nm. All samples exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature and the saturation magnetization reaches at the maximum value for the sample annealed at 700 °C. The silicide MnSi_1.7 was observed in the annealed samples. X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectra indicated that Mn atoms preferred to occupy substitutional or interstitial sites instead of precipitating to form silicide when annealing at 700 °C. It is inferred that the observed ferromagnetism is attributed to the interstitial and substitutional Mn dimers, which existed mostly in the sample annealed at 700 °C. The weaker ferromagnetism of the 900 °C annealed sample was closely related to the increased content of Mn₄Si₇ compound.     

The current–voltage characteristics of V2O5/n-Si Schottky diodes formed with different metals

In this work, we reported the effect of different metal contacts on performance of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS)-structured Schottky diodes formed with the vanadium pentoxide thin film (V₂O₅) interfacial layer. V₂O₅ thin films were deposited by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on n-type silicon (n-Si) and Corning glass (CG) substrates at room temperature. Then, the obtained films were annealed at 300 °C and 500 °C. The effects of annealing temperature on physical properties of the films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. The MOS-structured Al/V₂O₅/n-Si, Ti/V₂O₅/n-Si and Au/V₂O₅/n-Si Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) performance was analyzed with I–V measurements at room temperature. The Schottky diodes were compared with each other according to three methods (Classic, Norde and Cheung). The experimental results indicated that the Schottky diode produced with Al contact had better performance than the others.

     

Opto-electronic properties of sputter-deposited Cu2O films treated with rapid thermal annealing

Cu₂O thin films were first deposited using magnetron sputtering at 200 °C. The samples produced were then annealed by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system at 550 °C in a protective atmosphere with or without the addition of oxygen. After annealing, various Cu₂O and CuO films were formed. These films were characterized, as a function of oxygen concentration in RTA, using UV-VIS photometer, four-point probe, and Hall measurement system. The results show that these Cu₂O thin films annealed at 550 °C with more than 1.2% oxygen added in the protective argon atmosphere would transform into the CuO phase. Apparently, the results of RTA are sensitive to the amount of oxygen added in the protective atmosphere. The resistivity of these Cu₂O thin films decreases with the increase in the oxygen amount in the annealing atmosphere, most likely due to the increase in carrier mobility. In addition, Cu₂O/ZnO (doped with AlSc) junctions were produced at 200 °C and annealed. The rectifying effect of P-N junction disappeared after annealing, probably due to the damage of p-n interface, which directly causes current leakage at the junction.     

TiN as a high temperature diffusion barrier for arsenic and boron

The use of TiN thin films as high temperature diffusion barrier layers for arsenic and boron was investigated. The TiN films are formed by reactive evaporation at room temperature and then annealed at a higher temperature. TiN and TiN/TiSi₂ films are placed between heavily doped polycrystalline silicon films and single-crystal silicon substrates of opposite doping polarity for secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis and electrical measurements of Schottky and ohmic contacts respectively. The results indicate that TiN is a good diffusion barrier for arsenic at 900°C. The effectiveness of this property is degraded as the temperature exceeds 900°C and it becomes ineffective at 1000°C. TiN is a better diffusion barrier for boron than for arsenic. It allows limited diffusion of boron at temperatures of up to 1000°C. The TiN/TiSi₂ composite forms good ohmic contacts when the substrates are heavily doped. The ohmic contacts can survive after annealing at temperatures of up to 1000°C. It also forms good Schottky contacts when the substrates are lightly doped. The Schottky contacts can survive after annealing at temperatures of up to 950°C in one case and of up to 1000°C in another case.     

The diffusion barrier effect of a vanadium layer in the formation of nickel silicides

The formation of nickel silicides and vanadium silicides and the diffusion barrier effect of a vanadium layer in the formation of nickel silicides were studied for annealed metal films deposited on silicon substrates by depth profiling using secondary ion mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction. Nickel films more than 2500 Å thick react with silicon after annealing at 400 °C for 30 min in a vacuum. A vanadium layer 250 Å thick between nickel and silicon shows a barrier effect in the nickel silicide formation after annealing at 400 °C for 30 min. The barrier effect of a vanadium layer 250 Å thick becomes imperfect after annealing at 500 °C for 30 min.     

Aluminum contact to nickel silicide using a thin tungsten barrier

An aluminum film in contact with NiSi is not stable in the temperature range around 450 °C usually applied for aluminum contact sintering. We used thin (about 2 kÅ) self-supported silicon substrates to investigate the interaction of aluminum films with NiSi by mega-electronvolt ⁴He⁺ backscattering spectrometry. The thin substrate enables us to distinguish between the aluminum and the silicon signals, to isolate them, and to analyze the reaction. It is found that the aluminum reacts with the silicide and forms an NiAl₃ layer in direct contact with the silicon substrate. Simultaneously, a rise in the Schottky barrier height of the contact is observed. A thin layer (250 Å) of tungsten placed as a barrier between the aluminum and the silicide is shown to inhibit the aluminum-silicide reaction. A process is described to prepare a reliable aluminum contact to NiSi on a silicon substrate in a single annealing step.     

Effect of annealing atmosphere (Ar vs. air) and temperature on the electrical and optical properties of spin-coated colloidal indium tin oxide films

Colloidal indium tin oxide (ITO) ~6 nm nanoparticles synthesized in-house were deposited by spin coating on fused silica substrates, resulting in high resistivity films due to the presence of passivating organics. These films were annealed at various temperatures ranging from 150 to 750 °C in air and argon atmospheres. The films are very transparent in the as-coated form, and they retain high transparency upon annealing, except the films annealed at 300 °C in argon, which became brown due to incomplete pyrolysis of the organics. Thermogravimetric analysis and Raman characterization showed that the removal of organics increases with an increase in the annealing temperature, and that this removal is more efficient in the oxidizing atmosphere of air, especially in the 300–450 °C temperature range than in Ar. Although ITO defect chemistry suggests that argon annealing should result in higher carrier concentration than air annealing, the faster removal of insulating organics upon annealing in air resulted in significantly lower film resistivity at intermediate annealing temperatures for films annealed in air than in Ar. At higher annealing temperatures, both Ar and air annealing, resulted in comparable film resistivities (the lowest achieved was ~10⁰ Ω cm).     

Raman study of Ni and Ni silicide contacts on 4H- and 6H-SiC

Ni₂Si, NiSi and NiSi₂ contacts were prepared on n-type 4H- and 6H-SiC(0001) by deposition of Ni and Si multilayers in the respective stoichiometry after high-temperature annealing, as well as pure Ni contacts. After annealing, the individual contacts were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and electrical property measurements. Contact structures were then etched-off and subsequently observed by means of AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy). Ni reacted with SiC, forming Ni₂Si and carbon. At Ni_xSi_y/SiC contact structures the respective silicides were already formed at low annealing temperatures, when only Schottky behavior of the structures was observed. The intended silicides, once formed, did not change any further with increasing annealing temperature. All contact structures provided good ohmic behavior after being annealed at 960 °C. By means of combined AFM and Raman analysis of the etched-off contacts we found that the silicide contact structures very probably did not react with SiC which is in accordance with the thermodynamic assumptions. After annealing the silicide contact structures at such temperature, when Schottky behavior changed to ohmic, a certain form of interaction between the SiC substrate and the silicide contact structures must have occurred.     

Interface structure and electrical properties of PtSi/Si1−x Ge x diodes based on silicon

PtSi/strained Si_1–x Ge _x (x=0, 0.2, and 0.25) Schottky-barrier diodes (SBD) with extended cutoff wavelengths have been demonstrated by combining pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Pt was deposited by PLD on the Si_1–x Ge _x alloys with a thin Si sacrificial cap layer fabricated by MBE. By the reaction of deposited Pt film on Si, a sacrificial cap layer silicide SBD has been fabricated. Auger electron depth profiling was performed on the films before and after in vacuo annealing to study the redistribution of composition in the reactions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the interface structure. We have found that Pt reacts mainly with Si to form silicides at 350 °C, leaving some Ge to segregate at the surface. With annealing at 600 °C for 3 min the interface of PtSi/Si_1–x Ge _x is smooth. Since lowered-barrier-height silicide SBD are desirable for obtaining longer cutoff wavelength Si-based infrared detectors, the Schottky barrier heights of the PtSi/strained Si_1–x Ge _x SBDs with smooth interfaces were substantially lower than those of PtSi/Si SBDs, i.e., decreased with increasing Ge fraction, allowing for tuning of the SBDs cutoff wavelength. At 293 K, the ideality factor has been found to be 2.00 and 1.32 for PtSi/Si_0.80Ge_0.20 and PtSi/Si_0.75Ge_0.25 diodes, respectively. We have shown that high quantum efficiency and near-ideal dark current can be obtained in the film of PtSi/strained Si_1–x Ge _x with an excellent interface fabricated by MBE and PLD, after annealing at 600 °C for 3 min.     

Rapid Thermal Annealing of ZnO Nanocrystalline Films for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Nanocrystalline ZnO thin films were prepared by the sol–gel method and annealed at 600 °C by conventional (CTA) and rapid thermal annealing (RTA) processes on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrates for application as the work electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). ZnO films were crystallized using a conventional furnace and the proposed RTA process at annealing rates of 5 °C/min and 600 °C/min, respectively. The ZnO thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses. Based on the results, the ZnO thin films crystallized by the RTA process presented better crystallization than films crystallized in a conventional furnace. The ZnO films crystallized by RTA showed higher porosity and surface area than those prepared by CTA. The results show that the short-circuit photocurrent (J _sc) and open-circuit voltage (V _oc) values increased from 4.38 mA/cm² and 0.55 V for the DSSC with the CTA-derived ZnO films to 5.88 mA/cm² and 0.61 V, respectively, for the DSSC containing the RTA-derived ZnO films.     

Influence of annealing effects on the electrical and microstructural properties of Se Schottky contacts on n-type GaN

The electrical and microstructural properties of Se/n-gallium nitride (GaN) Schottky diode have been investigated by current–voltage (I–V), capacitance–voltage (C–V) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements as a function of annealing temperature. The Se/n-GaN Schottky contact exhibited an excellent rectification behavior. The barrier height of the as-deposited Se/n-GaN Schottky contact is 0.94 eV (I–V) and 1.55 eV (C–V), respectively. However, the barrier height of Se/n-GaN Schottky diode decreases to 0.90 eV (I–V) and 1.33 eV (C–V) upon annealing at 200 °C. Cheung’s and modified Norde functions are employed to determine the barrier height and series resistance. TEM results reveal that the Se film becomes fully crystallized for the contact annealed at 200 °C compared to the as-deposited contact without the reaction between Se film and GaN substrate. It is observed that the barrier height of Se/n-GaN Schottky diode decreases with increasing annealing temperature. This could be associated with the decrease in series resistance caused by the phase transformation from high resistance amorphous Se to low resistance crystalline Se. Further, the interface states density is found to be increased with the increasing annealing temperature. The Schottky emission mechanism is found to dominate the reverse leakage current in Se/n-GaN Schottky diodes irrespective of annealing temperatures.