scholarly journals Investigation of Compact Hollow-Anode Discharge Source for Copper Thin Films by Sputtering Processes

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3138
Author(s):  
In-Je Kang ◽  
Ji-Hun Kim ◽  
In-Sun Park ◽  
Kyu-Sun Chung

A compact hollow-anode discharge (HAD) source with a size of 60 mm in radius and 70 mm in length has been developed to stably generate plasma jets for various sputtering processes in semiconductor and display fabrications. A developed HAD plasma source has been investigated by cylindrical electric probes, and the experimental results were compared to the values of numerical calculations. A uniform density discharge model with a geometry factor was proposed to estimate the profiles of plasma parameters. Owing to the difference of absolute magnitude, even with the similar trend of spatial variation, plasma parameters such as electron temperature (Te) and plasma density (ne) measured at z = 3 cm have been calibrated by the values of numerical calculations at the nozzle entrance (z = 0 cm, at the throat of the jet), and the calibration factors for Te and n0 have been deduced by comparing the experimental values to numerical calculations. These are to be explained by the decay mechanism along the axis of the jet with elastic collisions in terms of the mean free path. The developed HAD plasma source was tested for the deposition of Cu thin films with an optimized condition as a plausible application to sputtering processes.

Author(s):  
I. A. Rauf

To understand the electronic conduction mechanism in Sn-doped indium oxide thin films, it is important to study the effect of dopant atoms on the neighbouring indium oxide lattice. Ideally Sn is a substitutional dopant at random indium sites. The difference in valence (Sn4+ replaces In3+) requires that an extra electron is donated to the lattice and thus contributes to the free carrier density. But since Sn is an adjacent member of the same row in the periodic table, the difference in the ionic radius (In3+: 0.218 nm; Sn4+: 0.205 nm) will introduce a strain in the indium oxide lattice. Free carrier electron waves will no longer see a perfect periodic lattice and will be scattered, resulting in the reduction of free carrier mobility, which will lower the electrical conductivity (an undesirable effect in most applications).One of the main objectives of the present investigation is to understand the effects of the strain (produced by difference in the ionic radius) on the microstructure of the indium oxide lattice when the doping level is increased to give high carrier densities. Sn-doped indium oxide thin films were prepared with four different concentrations: 9, 10, 11 and 12 mol. % of SnO2 in the starting material. All the samples were prepared at an oxygen partial pressure of 0.067 Pa and a substrate temperature of 250°C using an Edwards 306 coating unit with an electron gun attachment for heating the crucible. These deposition conditions have been found to give optimum electrical properties in Sn-doped indium oxide films. A JEOL 2000EX transmission electron microscope was used to investigate the specimen microstructure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan A. Ivanov ◽  
V. O. Ustyuzhanin ◽  
A. V. Sudnikov ◽  
A. Inzhevatkina

A plasma gun for forming a plasma stream in the open magnetic mirror trap with additional helicoidal field SMOLA is described. The plasma gun is an axisymmetric system with a planar circular hot cathode based on lanthanum hexaboride and a hollow copper anode. The two planar coils are located around the plasma source and create a magnetic field of up to 200 mT. The magnetic field forms the magnetron configuration of the discharge and provides a radial electric insulation. The source typically operates with a discharge current of up to 350 A in hydrogen. Plasma parameters in the SMOLA device are Ti ~ 5 eV, Te ~ 5–40 eV and ni ~ (0.1–1)  × 1019 m−3. Helium plasma can also be created. The plasma properties depend on the whole group of initial technical parameters: the cathode temperature, the feeding gas flow, the anode-cathode supply voltage and the magnitude of the cathode magnetic insulation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuejian Ma ◽  
Fei Zhang ◽  
Zhaodong Chu ◽  
Ji Hao ◽  
Xihan Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractThe outstanding performance of organic-inorganic metal trihalide solar cells benefits from the exceptional photo-physical properties of both electrons and holes in the material. Here, we directly probe the free-carrier dynamics in Cs-doped FAPbI3 thin films by spatiotemporal photoconductivity imaging. Using charge transport layers to selectively quench one type of carriers, we show that the two relaxation times on the order of 1 μs and 10 μs correspond to the lifetimes of electrons and holes in FACsPbI3, respectively. Strikingly, the diffusion mapping indicates that the difference in electron/hole lifetimes is largely compensated by their disparate mobility. Consequently, the long diffusion lengths (3~5 μm) of both carriers are comparable to each other, a feature closely related to the unique charge trapping and de-trapping processes in hybrid trihalide perovskites. Our results unveil the origin of superior diffusion dynamics in this material, crucially important for solar-cell applications.


2010 ◽  
Vol 97-101 ◽  
pp. 1768-1771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Hun Kim ◽  
Riichi Murakami ◽  
Yun Hae Kim ◽  
Kyung Man Moon ◽  
Seung Jung An ◽  
...  

In order to study the characteristics of multilayer thin films with a ZnO/ metal/ ZnO structure the manufacture of the thin films was performed by a dc (direct current) magnetron sputtering system on slide glass substrates. The ZnO thin films were manufactured with the thicknesses of 30 nm and 50 nm. Three kinds of metals (Ag, Al and Cu) were deposited with the thicknesses of 4 nm, 8 nm, 12 nm and 16 nm. The electrical and optical properties of the manufactured thin films were then observed. As a result, the multilayer thin films with an Ag layer represented the most excellent electrical conductivity. This is due to the difference in the fundamental electrical properties of each of the metals. The structures of the metal particles deposited on the ZnO thin films were observed by an SEM (scanning electron microscope). The thin films exhibited a continuous structure with regular spaces between the metal particles. This resulted in an increase of transmittance. This is considered by the decrease of scattering and of light absorption on thin films with a continuous structure.


2015 ◽  
Vol 815 ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Yu ◽  
Shu Hong Xie ◽  
Qing Feng Zhan

A practical way to manipulate the magnetic anisotropy of magnetostrictive FeGa thin films grown on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates is introduced in this study. The effect of film thickness on magnetic properties and magnetostriction constant of polycrystalline FeGa thin films was investigated. The anisotropy field Hk of flexible FeGa films, i.e., the saturation field determined by fitting the hysteresis curves measured along the hard axis, was enhanced with increasing the tensile strain applied along the easy axis of the thin films, but this enhancement via strain became unconspicuous with increasing the thickness of FeGa films. In order to study the magnetic sensitivity of thin films responding to the external stress, we applied different strains on these films and measure the corresponding anisotropy field. Moreover, the effective magnetostriction constant of FeGa films was calculated from the changes of both anisotropy field and external strain based on the Villari effect. A Neel’s phenomenological model was developed to illustrate that the effective anisotropy field of FeGa thin films was contributed from both the constant volume term and the inverse thickness dependent surface term. Therefore, the magnetic properties for the volume and surface of FeGa thin films were different, which has been verified in this work by using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) system. The anisotropy field contributed by the surface of FeGa film and obtained by MOKE is smaller than that contributed by the film volume and measured by VSM. We ascribed the difference in Hk to the relaxation of the effective strain applied on the films with increasing the thickness of films.


1962 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuo Usami ◽  
Yasuo Satô

abstract There are several causes for the observations of splitting of the spectral peaks determined from the free oscillation of the earth. In this paper, the splitting due to the ellipticity is studied assuming a homogeneous earth described by oblate spheroidal coordinates. Ellipticity causes the iTn mode to split into (n + 1) modes, while the earth's rotation causes it to split into (2n + 1) modes. 1/297.0 is adopted as the ellipticity of the earth. Numerical calculations are carried out for the fundamental mode (n = 2, 3, 4) and for the first higher harmonics (n = 1). The difference between the extreme frequencies for each value of n is 0.7% (n = 2), 0.5% (n = 3), and 0.4% (n = 4).


2021 ◽  
Vol 255 ◽  
pp. 03005
Author(s):  
Manuel Bärtschi ◽  
Daniel Schachtler ◽  
Silvia Schwyn-Thöny ◽  
Thomas Südmeyer ◽  
Roelene Botha

To enable the production of sophisticated optical interference coating designs, coatings with very low absorption and stray light losses and excellent layer thickness deposition accuracy are required. The selection and optimization of suitable coating materials and deposition processes are consequently essential. This study investigated the influence of the plasma source power on the optical properties, layer uniformity and stress, scattered light behavior and optical losses of magnetron sputtered Ta2O5 thin films.


1999 ◽  
Vol 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Thärigen ◽  
V. Riede ◽  
G. Lippold ◽  
E. Hartmann ◽  
R. Hesse ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCarbon silicon nitride (CSixNy), and carbon boron nitride (CBxNy) thin films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of various carbon (silicon/boron) (nitride) targets using an additional nitrogen RF plasma source on [100] oriented silicon substrates without additional heating. The CSixNy and CBxNy thin films were amorphous and showed nano hardness up to 23 GPa compared to 14 GPa for silicon and maximum nitrogen content of 30 at%. The maximum nanohardness was achieved for 10% Si and 10% B content in the films. The lower hardness of this films compared to the nanohardness of 30-50 GPa of DLC films indicates a lower amount of covalent carbon-nitrogen bonding in the films. However, in contrast to DLC films, the CSixNy and CBxNy films can be grown to thickness above 3 μm due to lower internal compressive stress. XPS of CSixNy and CBxNy film surfaces shows clear correlation of binding energy and intensity of N ls, C ls, and Si 2p peaks to composition of the PLD-targets and to nitrogen flow through plasma source, indicating soft changes of binding structure due to variation of PLD parameters. The results demonstrate the capability of the plasma assisted PLD process to deposit hard amorphous CSixNy, and CBxNy thin films with adjustable properties.


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