scholarly journals Plasma-Oxygen Interaction During Thin Films Deposition by Laser Ablation: Determination of the Interaction Pressure Threshold and Effect on the Thin Films Propertiese

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
S Lafane ◽  
T Kerdja ◽  
S Abdelli-Messaci ◽  
Y Khereddine ◽  
M Kechouane
1996 ◽  
Vol 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Madurga ◽  
R. J. Ortega ◽  
J. Vergara ◽  
K. V. Rao

ABSTRACTWe have fabricated granular Cu95Co5 thin films by laser ablation-deposition. Within a regime of annealing temperatures, these samples exhibit Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR), typically 5% in 0.5 Tesla at 5 K. The magnetic hysteresis loops are found to show finite coercive fields in the whole temperature range 2 K - 300 K. Below 9 K, the field dependence of the MR shows a split maximum. We interpret the data in terms of coercivity arising from blocking phenomenon of single domain superparamagnetic Co clusters. A quantitative determination of the upper limit for the cluster moment contributing to GMR is estimated to be 17000 μB (a cluster size of 5 nm).


Author(s):  
R. M. Anderson ◽  
T. M. Reith ◽  
M. J. Sullivan ◽  
E. K. Brandis

Thin films of aluminum or aluminum-silicon can be used in conjunction with thin films of chromium in integrated electronic circuits. For some applications, these films exhibit undesirable reactions; in particular, intermetallic formation below 500 C must be inhibited or prevented. The Al films, being the principal current carriers in interconnective metal applications, are usually much thicker than the Cr; so one might expect Al-rich intermetallics to form when the processing temperature goes out of control. Unfortunately, the JCPDS and the literature do not contain enough data on the Al-rich phases CrAl7 and Cr2Al11, and the determination of these data was a secondary aim of this work.To define a matrix of Cr-Al diffusion couples, Cr-Al films were deposited with two sets of variables: Al or Al-Si, and broken vacuum or single pumpdown. All films were deposited on 2-1/4-inch thermally oxidized Si substrates. A 500-Å layer of Cr was deposited at 120 Å/min on substrates at room temperature, in a vacuum system that had been pumped to 2 x 10-6 Torr. Then, with or without vacuum break, a 1000-Å layer of Al or Al-Si was deposited at 35 Å/s, with the substrates still at room temperature.


Author(s):  
M. Grant Norton ◽  
C. Barry Carter

Pulsed-laser ablation has been widely used to produce high-quality thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-δ on a range of substrate materials. The nonequilibrium nature of the process allows congruent deposition of oxides with complex stoichiometrics. In the high power density regime produced by the UV excimer lasers the ablated species includes a mixture of neutral atoms, molecules and ions. All these species play an important role in thin-film deposition. However, changes in the deposition parameters have been shown to affect the microstructure of thin YBa2Cu3O7-δ films. The formation of metastable configurations is possible because at the low substrate temperatures used, only shortrange rearrangement on the substrate surface can occur. The parameters associated directly with the laser ablation process, those determining the nature of the process, e g. thermal or nonthermal volatilization, have been classified as ‘primary parameters'. Other parameters may also affect the microstructure of the thin film. In this paper, the effects of these ‘secondary parameters' on the microstructure of YBa2Cu3O7-δ films will be discussed. Examples of 'secondary parameters' include the substrate temperature and the oxygen partial pressure during deposition.


Author(s):  
D. R. Liu ◽  
S. S. Shinozaki ◽  
R. J. Baird

The epitaxially grown (GaAs)Ge thin film has been arousing much interest because it is one of metastable alloys of III-V compound semiconductors with germanium and a possible candidate in optoelectronic applications. It is important to be able to accurately determine the composition of the film, particularly whether or not the GaAs component is in stoichiometry, but x-ray energy dispersive analysis (EDS) cannot meet this need. The thickness of the film is usually about 0.5-1.5 μm. If Kα peaks are used for quantification, the accelerating voltage must be more than 10 kV in order for these peaks to be excited. Under this voltage, the generation depth of x-ray photons approaches 1 μm, as evidenced by a Monte Carlo simulation and actual x-ray intensity measurement as discussed below. If a lower voltage is used to reduce the generation depth, their L peaks have to be used. But these L peaks actually are merged as one big hump simply because the atomic numbers of these three elements are relatively small and close together, and the EDS energy resolution is limited.


Author(s):  
S. P. Sapers ◽  
R. Clark ◽  
P. Somerville

OCLI is a leading manufacturer of thin films for optical and thermal control applications. The determination of thin film and substrate topography can be a powerful way to obtain information for deposition process design and control, and about the final thin film device properties. At OCLI we use a scanning probe microscope (SPM) in the analytical lab to obtain qualitative and quantitative data about thin film and substrate surfaces for applications in production and research and development. This manufacturing environment requires a rapid response, and a large degree of flexibility, which poses special challenges for this emerging technology. The types of information the SPM provides can be broken into three categories:(1)Imaging of surface topography for visualization purposes, especially for samples that are not SEM compatible due to size or material constraints;(2)Examination of sample surface features to make physical measurements such as surface roughness, lateral feature spacing, grain size, and surface area;(3)Determination of physical properties such as surface compliance, i.e. “hardness”, surface frictional forces, surface electrical properties.


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.


Chemosensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Davide Spanu ◽  
Gilberto Binda ◽  
Marcello Marelli ◽  
Laura Rampazzi ◽  
Sandro Recchia ◽  
...  

A laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) based method is proposed for the quantitative determination of the spatial distribution of metal nanoparticles (NPs) supported on planar substrates. The surface is sampled using tailored ablation patterns and the data are used to define three-dimensional functions describing the spatial distribution of NPs. The volume integrals of such interpolated surfaces are calibrated to obtain the mass distribution of Ag NPs by correlation with the total mass of metal as determined by metal extraction and ICP–MS analysis. Once this mass calibration is carried out on a sacrificial sample, quantifications can be performed over multiple samples by a simple micro-destructive LA–ICP–MS analysis without requiring the extraction/dissolution of metal NPs. The proposed approach is here tested using a model sample consisting of a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) disk decorated with silver NPs, achieving high spatial resolution over cm2-sized samples and very high sensitivity. The developed method is accordingly a useful analytical tool for applications requiring both the total mass and the spatial distribution of metal NPs to be determined without damaging the sample surface (e.g., composite functional materials and NPs, decorated catalysts or electrodic materials).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document