Macro-effects of resputtering due to negative ion bombardment of growing thin films

Bombardment of a growing thin film by negative ions can lead to changes in the film through the process of resputtering. Macro-effects of resputtering (effects on the film thickness) include a slowing of the film growth rate and, in some cases, a complete suppression of the film growth as well as an etching of the substrate materials. To study this result of resputtering, rf-diode sputtering was used to deposit BaTiO3 films under a variety of conditions, varying deposition time, rf-power level, substrate-to-target distance, total gas pressure, and argon, oxygen, and hydrogen partial pressures. The effect resputtering had on the thickness was seen to be a result of the competition between deposition and etching of the thin film material. The relative influence of the various sputtering parameters and the effect each of these has on the thickness distribution were examined. It was found that the greatest influence was system geometry, followed by rf-power level. Various methods of controlling resputtering are discussed.

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How CVD SI/GE Layer Growth is Controlled by Each one of the Reaction gas Components

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-280-183 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 280 ◽

Author(s):

H. Kühne ◽

G. Kissinger ◽

P. Zaumseil ◽

S. Hinrich ◽

H. Richter

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Hydrogen Chloride ◽

Film Growth ◽

Layer Growth ◽

Thin Film Growth ◽

Carrier Gas ◽

Growth Defects ◽

Density Reduction ◽

Partial Pressures ◽

Hydrogen Carrier

ABSTRACTApplying the previously derived “Three-Partial-Rates” model, CVD-Si/Ge-thin film growth and composition is described as influenced by the partial pressures of silane, germane, and hydrogen chloride. The effect of hydrogen carrier gas throughput variation is considered, as well as the density reduction of polycrystalline growth defects by the action of hydrogen chloride and hydrogen.

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Spatially Resolved Optoelectronic Properties of Al-Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films Deposited by Radio-Frequency Magnetron Plasma Sputtering Without Substrate Heating

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano10010014 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eugen Stamate

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Thin Films ◽

Zinc Oxide ◽

Spatial Resolution ◽

Negative Ions ◽

Negative Ion ◽

Soda Lime Glass ◽

Plasma Parameters ◽

Film Properties ◽

Substrate Heating

Transparent and conducting thin films were deposited on soda lime glass by RF magnetron sputtering without intentional substrate heating using an aluminum doped zinc oxide target of 2 inch in diameter. The sheet resistance, film thickness, resistivity, averaged transmittance and energy band gaps were measured with 2 mm spatial resolution for different target-to-substrate distances, discharge pressures and powers. Hall mobility, carrier concentration, SEM and XRD were performed with a 3 mm spatial resolution. The results reveal a very narrow range of parameters that can lead to reasonable resistivity values while the transmittance is much less sensitive and less correlated with the already well-documented negative effects caused by a higher concentration of oxygen negative ions and atomic oxygen at the erosion tracks. A possible route to improve the thin film properties requires the need to reduce the oxygen negative ion energy and investigate the growth mechanism in correlation with spatial distribution of thin film properties and plasma parameters.

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Influence of RF Power in the Growth of Aluminium Zinc Oxide (AZO) Thin Films by RF Sputtering

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.925.295 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 925 ◽

pp. 295-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mohammed Mannir Aliyu ◽

Muhammed Aminul Islam ◽

Qamar Huda ◽

Sajedur Rahman ◽

Nowshad Amin

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Thin Films ◽

Zinc Oxide ◽

Transparent Conducting Oxide ◽

Rf Sputtering ◽

Hall Effect Measurement ◽

Film Material ◽

Rf Power ◽

Smart Windows ◽

Measurement Tools

Aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO) is fast becoming an important thin film material for applications as transparent conducting oxide (TCO) in several thin film solar cells, smart windows and many devices using touch screen displays. This is due to its good electrical and optical characteristics as well as lower cost and good abundance. Although sputtering is the general method for industrial fabrication of this material, but film characteristics depend strongly on fabrication processes. Thus, optimal films are obtained by optimization of the deposition conditions. In this work, we investigated the effects of RF deposition power on AZO thin films. Samples of similar thicknesses were grown under similar conditions in an RF sputtering chamber at different RF powers. The samples were then characterized using FESEM, AFM, UV-Vis, XRD and Hall effect measurement tools. Results indicate that the surface morphology is slightly affected with larger grain sizes obtained at higher RF powers. Also the surface roughness, average transmittance, conductivity and deposition rate all increase with the RF power. The lowest as-deposited resistivity of 15.3x10-3 Ω/cm was obtained, at the highest RF power of 100 W. This film also have the highest values of carrier concentration, mobility and figure of merit of 4.24x1020 cm-3, 0.96 cm2/V and 0.27x10-3 Ω respectively. This work highlights the significance of RF power in the fabrication of good quality AZO thin films.

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Negative ions: The overlooked species in thin film growth by pulsed laser deposition

Applied Physics Letters ◽

10.1063/1.3660399 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 99 (19) ◽

pp. 191501 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

M. Esposito ◽

M. Bator ◽

M. Döbeli ◽

T. Lippert ◽

C. W. Schneider ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Pulsed Laser Deposition ◽

Film Growth ◽

Pulsed Laser ◽

Negative Ions ◽

Thin Film Growth ◽

Laser Deposition

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Microstructural characterization of YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films formed by metalorganic CVD

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100089718 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 49 ◽

pp. 1080-1081

Author(s):

P. Lu ◽

W. Huang ◽

C.S. Chern ◽

Y.Q. Li ◽

J. Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Thin Films ◽

Critical Current Density ◽

Critical Current ◽

Current Density ◽

Film Growth ◽

Chemical Vapor ◽

Microstructural Characterization ◽

Ion Milling ◽

Conventional Grinding

The YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films formed by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) have been reported to have excellent superconducting properties including a sharp zero resistance transition temperature (Tc) of 89 K and a high critical current density of 2.3x106 A/cm2 or higher. The origin of the high critical current in the thin film compared to bulk materials is attributed to its structural properties such as orientation, grain boundaries and defects on the scale of the coherent length. In this report, we present microstructural aspects of the thin films deposited on the (100) LaAlO3 substrate, which process the highest critical current density.Details of the thin film growth process have been reported elsewhere. The thin films were examined in both planar and cross-section view by electron microscopy. TEM sample preparation was carried out using conventional grinding, dimpling and ion milling techniques. Special care was taken to avoid exposure of the thin films to water during the preparation processes.

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Thin film growth

10.1533/9780857093295 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Zexian Cao

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Film Growth ◽

Thin Film Growth

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Quantitative Image Analysis of Fractal-like Thin Films of Organic Semiconductors

10.26434/chemrxiv.6223610.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Weikun Zhu ◽

Erfan Mohammadi ◽

Ying Diao

Keyword(s):

Thin Film ◽

Thin Films ◽

Image Analysis ◽

Fractal Dimension ◽

Organic Semiconductors ◽

Film Growth ◽

Electronic Device ◽

Significant Control ◽

Semiconductor Thin Films ◽

Two Parameters

Morphology modulation offers significant control over organic electronic device performance. However, morphology quantification has been rarely carried out via image analysis. In this work, we designed a MATLAB program to evaluate two key parameters describing morphology of small molecule semiconductor thin films: fractal dimension and film coverage. We then employ this program in a case study of meniscus-guided coating of 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (C<sub>8</sub>-BTBT) under various conditions to analyze a diverse and complex morphology set. The evolution of morphology in terms of fractal dimension and film coverage was studied as a function of coating speed. We discovered that combined fractal dimension and film coverage can quantitatively capture the key characteristics of C<sub>8</sub>-BTBT thin film morphology; change of these two parameters further inform morphology transition. Furthermore, fractal dimension could potentially shed light on thin film growth mechanisms.

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