Fivefold symmetries in silicon thin films induced by multiple twinning

Author(s):  
Farah Haddad ◽  
Prabal Goyal ◽  
Ronan Léal ◽  
Junegie Hong ◽  
Erik Johnson ◽  
...  
2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 2226-2234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Haddad ◽  
Prabal Goyal ◽  
Erik V. Johnson ◽  
Junegie Hong ◽  
Pere Roca i Cabarrocas ◽  
...  

Unusual quasi-fivefold symmetric electron diffraction patterns are observed for silicon thin films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition and containing oxygen and carbon impurities in the range of 0.3–5.5%. These films were grown on crystalline (100) silicon wafers using a liquid precursor, hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), mixed with silane, hydrogen and diborane diluted in argon. The occurrence of this quasi-fivefold symmetry is explained by multiple twinning and imperfect epitaxy. A quantitative method performed on the diffraction patterns is developed to evaluate the number of twin operations. This method is also used to discriminate twin positions from random microcrystalline ones in the diffraction patterns and thus to estimate their respective ratios for different growth conditions. Quite remarkably, the random microcrystalline part remains in the range of a few per cent and the diffracted intensities are the sum of two main contributions: multiple (micro-) twinned and amorphous. Increasing the amount of HMDSO decreases the microtwinned part directly to the benefit of the amorphous part with no significant microcrystalline phase. The causes of twinning are presented and discussed by comparing the observations with the literature; dynamical considerations where the system tends to align {111} planes with the growth direction would explain multiple twinning and, in turn, the fivefold symmetry.


Author(s):  
R. M. Anderson

Aluminum-copper-silicon thin films have been considered as an interconnection metallurgy for integrated circuit applications. Various schemes have been proposed to incorporate small percent-ages of silicon into films that typically contain two to five percent copper. We undertook a study of the total effect of silicon on the aluminum copper film as revealed by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and ion microprobe techniques as a function of the various deposition methods.X-ray investigations noted a change in solid solution concentration as a function of Si content before and after heat-treatment. The amount of solid solution in the Al increased with heat-treatment for films with ≥2% silicon and decreased for films <2% silicon.


Author(s):  
Fumio Watari ◽  
J. M. Cowley

STEM coupled with the optical system was used for the investigation of the early oxidation on the surface of Cr. Cr thin films (30 – 1000Å) were prepared by evaporation onto the polished or air-cleaved NaCl substrates at room temperature and 45°C in a vacuum of 10−6 Torr with an evaporation speed 0.3Å/sec. Rather thick specimens (200 – 1000Å) with various preferred orientations were used for the investigation of the oxidation at moderately high temperature (600 − 1100°C). Selected area diffraction patterns in these specimens are usually very much complicated by the existence of the different kinds of oxides and their multiple twinning. The determination of the epitaxial orientation relationship of the oxides formed on the Cr surface was made possible by intensive use of the optical system and microdiffraction techniques. Prior to the formation of the known rhombohedral Cr2O3, a thin spinel oxide, probably analogous to γ -Al203 or γ -Fe203, was formed. Fig. 1a shows the distinct epitaxial growth of the spinel (001) as well as the rhombohedral (125) on the well-oriented Cr(001) surface. In the case of the Cr specimen with the (001) preferred orientation (Fig. 1b), the rings explainable by spinel structure appeared as well as the well defined epitaxial spots of the spinel (001). The microdif fraction from 20A areas (Fig. 2a) clearly shows the same pattern as Fig. Ia with the weaker oxide spots among the more intense Cr spots, indicating that the thickness of the oxide is much less than that of Cr. The rhombohedral Cr2O3 was nucleated preferably at the Cr(011) sites provided by the polycrystalline nature of the present specimens with the relation Cr2O3 (001)//Cr(011), and by further oxidation it grew into full coverage of the rest of the Cr surface with the orientation determined by the initial nucleation.


1998 ◽  
Vol 536 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Pevtsov ◽  
N. A. Feoktistov ◽  
V. G. Golubev

AbstractThin (<1000 Å) hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon films are widely used in solar cells, light emitting diodes, and spatial light modulators. In this work the conductivity of doped and undoped amorphous-nanocrystalline silicon thin films is studied as a function of film thickness: a giant anisotropy of conductivity is established. The longitudinal conductivity decreases dramatically (by a factor of 109 − 1010) as the layer thickness is reduced from 1500 Å to 200 Å, while the transverse conductivity remains close to that of a doped a- Si:H. The data obtained are interpreted in terms of the percolation theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Terkowski ◽  
Iain W. Martin ◽  
Daniel Axmann ◽  
Malte Behrendsen ◽  
Felix Pein ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 984 ◽  
pp. 91-96
Author(s):  
Cheng Liu ◽  
Yu Hao Song ◽  
Dong Yang Li ◽  
Wei Li

The structural and optical properties of amorphous silicon (a-Si) and Al-dispersed amorphous silicon (a-Si:Al) thin films irradiated by femtosecond (fs) laser at various energy densities are investigated comparatively in this article. It is found that there is an uneven crystallization in both amorphous thin films by means of optical microscopy and laser Raman spectroscopy respectively. The crystallization in each pulse spot area is gradually weakened from the center to the edge along with the energy dispersion of laser irradiation. The laser induced crystallization in a-Si thin films begins early and develops more extensively compared to that in a-Si:Al thin films, and Al nanoparticles inhibit somehow the crystallization of a-Si in a-Si:Al thin films.


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