Properties of buried SiC layers produced by carbon ion implantation in (100) bulk silicon and silicon-on-sapphire

Buried layers of SiC were formed in (100) single-crystal bulk silicon and silicon-on-sapphire by ion implantation of 125–180 keV, (0.56-1.00) × 10¹⁸ C/cm² at 30–40 μA/ cm² into samples held at 450-650° C. The as-implanted and 950° C annealed samples were characterized by differential infra-red absorbance and reflectance, Rutherford backscattering and channeling spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, four-point probe measurements, Dektak profilometry, I-V measurements, spreading resistance measurements and secondary ion mass spectrometry. Work done while affiliated with Rockwell International Corporation, Microelectronics Research & Development Center, 3370 Miraloma Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92803 and a Visiting Associate at the California Institute of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Mail Code 116-81, Pasadena, CA 91125.     

Sr掺杂锆钛酸铅(PSZT)薄膜的电可调性能研究

采用sol-gel工艺制备了Sr掺杂Pb(Zr,Ti)O3薄膜(Pb1-xSrxZr0.52Ti0.48O3,PSZT),研究了Sr含量(x=0.2～0.8)对PSZT薄膜的结构和性能的影响。结果表明:随Sr含量增加,PSZT由四方相转变为立方相,相变温度降低,逐渐由铁电相向顺电相转变。薄膜的εr、可调率和tanδ随Sr含量增加逐渐减小,这与Sr含量的增加导致PSZT薄膜晶格收缩有关。当x(Sr)为0.6时,PSZT薄膜具有较好的综合性能(1MHz):可调率为48%,tanδ为0.02,表明PSZT有望成为电可调微波器件的候选材料。     

Al掺杂半导体Mg2Si薄膜的制备及光学带隙研究

用磁控溅射方法在Si衬底上制备了Al掺杂Mg2Si薄膜,通过X射线衍射仪(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)、原子力显微镜(AFM)和分光光度计研究了掺杂含量对Mg2Si薄膜组分、表面形貌、粗糙度及光学带隙值的影响,XRD结果表明随着Al掺杂量的增加, Mg2Si衍射峰先增强后减弱. SEM及AFM的结果表明随掺杂量的增加,结晶度先增加后降低,晶粒尺寸减小,粗糙度先增加后降低.得到掺杂后薄膜间接跃迁带隙范围为0.423～0.495 eV,直接跃迁带隙范围为0.72～0.748 eV,掺杂前薄膜间接跃迁带隙和直接跃迁带隙分别为0.53 eV、0.833 eV.     

Formation of aluminum oxide films from aluminum hexafluoroacetylacetonate at 350–450° c

A study of the thermally activated decomposition of Al(hfa)₃ (aluminum hexafluoroacetylacetonate) from the gas phase to form Al₂O₃ on silicon substrates is reported. The decomposition process was carried out in an open tube atmospheric pressure reactor in either argon or oxygen/argon mixtures in the temperature range, 350–450° C. The chemical vapor deposition process resulted in the formation of aluminum oxide films in all instances. The dielectric strength of Al/Al₂O₃/Si capacitors which received a post-metal anneal, but did not receive a high temperature annealing treatment, with aluminum oxide films prepared from Al(hfa)₃ in argon, was found to be in the range 2–6 MV/cm. The difference between the flatband voltage of the MOS structures and the metal-silicon work function difference was positive, indicative of a net negative oxide charge with a density of approximately 3 × 10¹¹ – 3 × 10¹² cm^-2, assuming the charge is located at the oxide-silicon interface. Decomposition of Al(hfa)₃ was also carried out in oxygen/argon mixtures with the oxygen concentration in the range 10–60 vol %. This process led to the deposition of aluminum oxide films with breakdown fields in the range 8–9 MV/cm. However, the flatband voltages of the Al/Al₂O₃/Si capacitors were even more positive than those obtained with Al₂O₃ formed in pure argon. High temperature (800–1000° C) oxygen or nitrogen annealing treatments of alumina films deposited in either argon or oxygen/argon mixtures were evaluated from the point of view of their influence on the oxide film properties. In particular, an annealing process in oxygen at 1000° C for 15 min was found to result in a reduction of the net negative oxide charge, and an improvement of the dielectric strength of films deposited in argon. Films formed in oxygen/argon mixtures did not change appreciably following oxygen annealing, as far as breakdown fields are concerned, but the oxide net negative charge was reduced. As in an earlier study by the authors, of copper film deposition from Cu(hfa)₂, it was found that essentially carbon free films could be obtained under appropriate conditions.     

Investigation of electrically active defects in amorphous barium titanate thin films

DC and AC electrical properties of amorphous barium titanate thin film capacitors have been investigated as a function of temperature. A clear correlation is found between the temperature dependence of DC leakage currents and the temperature variation of the AC loss peaks, showing that these measurement techniques are probing the same electrical defects. Using either of these two techniques in amorphous barium titanate, we were able to detect oxygen vacancies diffusion with activation energy around 1 eV, and electron traps at 0.3 and 0.4 eV.     

Electromigration in aluminum/silicon/copper metallization due to the presence of a thin oxide layer

The effect of a thin layer of SiO₂ (50 nm) on the electromigration behavior of Al/ 0.8wt.%Si/0.5wt.%Cu metallization, passivated by spin-on-glass, phosphorus silicate glass and silicon nitride as part of the complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology fabrication process was studied. It is found that voids were formed along the edge of the metallization line as opposed to formation at triple point of grain boundaries. At the same stress current of 1 × 10⁶ A/cm², thicker metallization layer (600 nm) showed an improvement in median time to failure (MTF) (1.4 times) with smaller void size (0.2 to 0.4 μm) over one without an underlying oxide, whereas if the metallization thickness is thin (300 nm), the MTF is degraded (0.6 times) with larger void size formed (0.3 to 1.0 μm).     

The influence of dose and protecting mask on electrically active defects induced by ion implantation in silicon

We present a study of electrically active defects induced by ion implantation, for two dopants: arsenic and phosphorous. Our analysis technique is Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (D.L.T.S.). We have studied the generation of defects by direct implantation, and indirect implantation, that is through an SiO₂ layer. We follow the defect spectrum evolution for different doses (10⁸ to 10¹⁴ atoms/cm²) and for different annealing temperatures (from room temperature up to 800° C). The comparison of our results with other published ones allows us to improve the knowledge about the role of a protecting oxide layer, the influence of moderate thermal annealing, and the effect of oxygen on deep centers produced by ion bombardment.     

In situ P-doped Si and Si1−xGex epitaxial films grown by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition has been applied to growin- situ doped n-type epitaxial Si and Si_1−xGe_x with the introduction of phosphine. Growth rates and dopant incorporation have been studied as a function of process parameters (temperature, rf power, and dopant gas flow). Growth rates remain unaltered with the introduction of PH₃ during deposition, unlike in many other low temperature growth techniques. Phosphorus incorporation shows a linear dependence on PH₃ flow rate, but has little if any dependence on the other growth parameters, such as radio frequency power and substrate temperature, for the ranges of parameters that were examined. Phosphorus concentrations as high as 4 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ at 14 W have been obtained.     

Charge collection microscopy of annealing induced electrically active defects in Si1−xGex/Si strained layer epitaxy

Images of electrically active defects in Si_1−xGe_x strained epilayers onn-type Si(100) have been obtained using charge collection microscopy (CCM) in a scanning electron microscope. Electrically active defects were generated in the defect-free as-grown material by rapid thermal annealing treatments (3 min) over a temperature range of 550 to 850° C. Point-like contrast, attributed to threading dislocations, as well as an additional line contrast due to the formation of an interface misfit dislocation network, were observed as the metastable strained Si_1−xGr_x layers relaxed upon annealing. Cross-sectional and plan-view transmission electron microscopy were used to examine the Si_1−xGe_x epilayers in finer detail. Double crystal x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering spectra were also obtained and the annealing induced peak shifts investigated.     

Control of the structure and surface morphology of gallium nitride and aluminum nitride thin films by nitrogen background pressure in pulsed laser deposition

Thin films of AlN and GaN were grown by pulsed laser deposition on c-plane sapphire substrates. It is demonstrated that the structure and surface morphology of layers can actively be controlled by adjusting the nitrogen partial pressure during the growth. The observed trends in the structural quality of the thin films can be attributed to the changes in the surface diffusion of adatoms. It is argued that the surface diffusion of adatoms can be influenced by the collisions between the nitrogen gas molecules and the activated atoms which can reduce the kinetic energy of activated atoms and increase the rate of formation of immobile surface dimers. Through these nitrogen pressure related effects, thin films with microstructure ranging from crystalline to amorphous can be produced. The observed similar impact of nitrogen pressure on the growth of GaN and AlN thin films indicates that a pressure assisted growth procedure is generally applicable to design the surface morphology of group III-nitride thin films. A minimal surface root mean square roughness of 0.7 nm for amorphous AlN is obtained which compares well with the substrate roughness of 0.5 nm. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy of thin films of GaN and AlN showed a large incorporation of oxygen which was found to reduce the lattice constants of GaN and AlN.     

Molecular dynamics study on splitting of hydrogen-implanted silicon in Smart-Cut® technology

Defect evolution in a single crystal silicon which is implanted with hydrogen atoms and then annealed is investigated in the present paper by means of molecular dynamics simulation. By introducing defect density based on statistical average, this work aims to quantitatively examine defect nucleation and growth at nanoscale during annealing in Smart-Cut~ technology. Research focus is put on the effects of the implantation energy, hydrogen implantation dose and annealing temperature on defect density in the statistical region. It is found that most defects nucleate and grow at the annealing stage, and that defect density increases with the increase of the annealing temperature and the decrease of the hydrogen implantation dose. In addition, the enhancement and the impediment effects of stress field on defect density in the annealing process are discussed.     

Comparison of the surface morphology and microstructure of in situ and ex situ derived YBa2Cu3O7−x thin films

The surface morphology and microstructure of in situ and ex situ derived YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x (YBCO) thin films have been investigated. In situ films were deposited by single-target off-axis sputtering and three-target co-sputtering. Ex situ films were derived by metalorganic deposition (MOD) of trifluoroacetate precursors. Surface defects resulting from mixed a-axis and c-axis orientation as well as secondary phases have been identified in these films. Despite these defects, films with excellent electrical properties have been formed. However, defects interfere with film patterning and the fabrication of multi-layered structures. Several secondary phase precipitates have been identified, including CuO, Y₂O₃, Cu-Ba-O, and Y₂Cu₂O₅. Secondary phases resulting from a lack of stoichiometry can be eliminated by direct composition control in the MOD and three-target sputtering techniques, and by composition control through the application of an externally applied magnetic field in single-target off-axis sputtering. Secondary phases caused by contamination were also identified: Cr-Ba-O in off-axis sputtering, resulting from contamination by the oxidized heater block; and BaSO₄ in MOD, resulting from gas phase impurities. These results suggest that cation composition control is not sufficient to prevent the formation of secondary phases and that small levels of contamination may prevent phasepure material from being formed.