Preparation and Characterization of Silicon Nanocrystals in a SiO2 Matrix and Study of Suboxide Stability

1996 ◽  
Vol 452 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Hinds ◽  
A. Banerjee ◽  
R. S. Johnson ◽  
G. Lucovsky

AbstractThe kinetics of the decomposition of silicon suboxides (SiOx, x<2) to Sic + SiO2 was studied as a function of composition and post-deposition annealing. Amorphous hydrogenated SiOx films (0.8<x<1.4) were deposited by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RPECVD) and rapid thermal annealed (RTA) at temperatures of 500–1000°C. By monitoring the Si-O infra-red (IR) bond-stretch mode frequency, it was found that at temperatures below 850°C, or at a oxygen poor composition near SiO0.8, the decomposition reaction only proceeded to a metastable form of SiO1.6 + Si. Characterization by Raman and spectroscopie ellipsometry confirm similar trends. Cross sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirms that Si nanocrystals (Sine) are formed with anneals at 900°C (30 sec). As deposited suboxides show band edge photoluminescence at 1.6 eV which disappears upon annealing at 900°C, indicating a sharp suboxide free interface between Sinc and SiO2 matrix.

1992 ◽  
Vol 280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su-Heng Lin ◽  
Miltiadis K. Hatalis

ABSTRACTA quantitative approach for characterizing the interface roughness between two materials by cross sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) is proposed. This approach is based on obtaining an interface height distribution curve (IHDC). The interface roughness can be characterized quantitatively by extracting from IHDC three parameters: the mean, median and maximum interface height. This new method has been applied in the characterization of the interface between thermally grown silicon dioxide and polycrystalline silicon thin films deposited by low pressure chemical vapor deposition. It is shown that high temperature processing yields an interface that has higher roughness.


1986 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. S. Kong ◽  
J. T. Glass ◽  
R. F. Davis ◽  
S. R. Nutt

ABSTRACTHigh quality, β-SiC (111) monocrystalline films have been epitaxially grown via chemical vapor deposition at 1683K on hexagonal 6H αc-SiC (0001) using a (SiH4 + C2H4)/(H2) gas flow rate ratio of 1:3000. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy showed almost no line or planar defects at the film/substrate interface and a low density within the bulk of the film. Furthermore, high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed a coherent β-SiC/α-SiC interface. Secondary ion mass spectrometry indicated that the diffusion of the Al in the substrate into the as-grown film was negligible. Unintentionally doped films are n-type with the carrier concentrations virtually always in the range of 1016-1017cm3, as determined by capacitance-voltage measurements. A gold-β-SiC Schottky diode having an ideality constant of approximately 1.6 was fabricated on the β-SiC epilayer.


1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171-1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Zhou ◽  
F. Namavar ◽  
P. C. Colter ◽  
M. Yoganathan ◽  
M. W. Leksono ◽  
...  

SiC (3C-SiC) was grown on the top Si layer of SIMOX (Si/SiO2/Si) by carbonization followed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Subsequently, GaN was deposited on the SiC by metalorganic (MO) CVD to produce a GaN/SiC/Si/SiO2/Si multilayer structure. This multilayer film was investigated by conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution (HR) TEM from cross-sectional view. The GaN layer was found to consist of predominately hexagonal gallium nitride (h-GaN), and a small fraction of cubic GaN (c-GaN) crystallites. The orientation relationship between most of the h-GaN grains and SiC (3C-SiC) was found to be (0001)Ga N||s(111)SiC; [1120]GaN||[110]SiC, while most of the c-GaN grains had an orientation relationship (001)GaN||(001)SiC; [110]GaN||[110]SiC with respect to 3C-SiC substrate. The hexagonal grains of GaN were found to grow as two variants. The defects in both h-GaN and c-GaN are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Julia T. Luck ◽  
C. W. Boggs ◽  
S. J. Pennycook

The use of cross-sectional Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) has become invaluable for the characterization of the near-surface regions of semiconductors following ion-implantation and/or transient thermal processing. A fast and reliable technique is required which produces a large thin region while preserving the original sample surface. New analytical techniques, particularly the direct imaging of dopant distributions, also require good thickness uniformity. Two methods of ion milling are commonly used, and are compared below. The older method involves milling with a single gun from each side in turn, whereas a newer method uses two guns to mill from both sides simultaneously.


Author(s):  
H. Takaoka ◽  
M. Tomita ◽  
T. Hayashi

High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is the effective technique for characterization of detailed structure of semiconductor materials. Oxygen is one of the important impurities in semiconductors. Detailed structure of highly oxygen doped silicon has not clearly investigated yet. This report describes detailed structure of highly oxygen doped silicon observed by HRTEM. Both samples prepared by Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and ion implantation were observed to investigate effects of oxygen concentration and doping methods to the crystal structure.The observed oxygen doped samples were prepared by MBE method in oxygen environment on (111) substrates. Oxygen concentration was about 1021 atoms/cm3. Another sample was silicon of (100) orientation implanted with oxygen ions at an energy of 180 keV. Oxygen concentration of this sample was about 1020 atoms/cm3 Cross-sectional specimens of (011) orientation were prepared by argon ion thinning and were observed by TEM at an accelerating voltage of 400 kV.


Author(s):  
N. David Theodore ◽  
Leslie H. Allen ◽  
C. Barry Carter ◽  
James W. Mayer

Metal/polysilicon investigations contribute to an understanding of issues relevant to the stability of electrical contacts in semiconductor devices. These investigations also contribute to an understanding of Si lateral solid-phase epitactic growth. Metals such as Au, Al and Ag form eutectics with Si. reactions in these metal/polysilicon systems lead to the formation of large-grain silicon. Of these systems, the Al/polysilicon system has been most extensively studied. In this study, the behavior upon thermal annealing of Au/polysilicon bilayers is investigated using cross-section transmission electron microscopy (XTEM). The unique feature of this system is that silicon grain-growth occurs at particularly low temperatures ∽300°C).Gold/polysilicon bilayers were fabricated on thermally oxidized single-crystal silicon substrates. Lowpressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) at 620°C was used to obtain 100 to 400 nm polysilicon films. The surface of the polysilicon was cleaned with a buffered hydrofluoric acid solution. Gold was then thermally evaporated onto the samples.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Sun ◽  
John E. Pearson ◽  
Judith C. Yang

AbstractThe nucleation and growth of Cu2O and NiO islands due to oxidation of Cu-24%Ni(001) films were monitored at various temperatures by in situ ultra-high vacuum (UHV) transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In remarkable contrast to our previous observations of Cu and Cu-Au oxidation, irregular-shaped polycrystalline oxide islands were observed to form with respect to the Cu-Ni alloy film, and an unusual second oxide nucleation stage was noted. Similar to Cu oxidation, the cross-sectional area growth rate of the oxide island is linear indicating oxygen surface diffusion is the primary mechanism of oxide growth.


1996 ◽  
Vol 449 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kung ◽  
A. Saxler ◽  
D. Walker ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
R. Lavado ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTWe present the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth, n-type and p-type doping and characterization of AlxGa1-xN alloys on sapphire substrates. We report the fabrication of Bragg reflectors and the demonstration of two dimensional electron gas structures using AlxGa1-xN high quality films. We report the structural characterization of the AlxGa1-xN / GaN multilayer structures and superlattices through X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. A density of screw and mixed threading dislocations as low as 107 cm-2 was estimated in AlxGa1-xN / GaN structures. The realization of AlxGa1-xN based UV photodetectors with tailored cut-off wavelengths from 365 to 200 nm are presented.


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