Effect of reactive gas condition on nonpolar AlN film growth on MnS/Si (100) by reactive DC sputtering

The effects of reactive gas flow conditions on nonpolar AlN film growth on MnS/Si (100) substrates using reactive DC magnetron sputtering were investigated. During AlN deposition at a substrate temperature of 750 °C, the MnS surface can be unintentionally nitrided, resulting in a decrease in the crystallinity of the AlN. Low temperature growth of the AlN layer at 300 °C prevents this nitridation and results in the crystallization of nonpolar AlN. A N2 flow equal to 30% of the Ar sputtering gas flow was found to improve the crystallinity of the nonpolar AlN and to reduce nitrogen defects, which play an important role in interfacial reactions. Nitrogen defects promote the formation of alloys such as AlMn and MnSi that degrade the interface and can significantly decompose the MnS. A higher proportion of N2 improves the nonpolar AlN crystallinity, reduces the concentration of defects and suppresses reactions at the AlN/MnS interface.

Effects of Oxygen Partial Pressure and Substrate Temperature on the Structure and Morphology of Sc and Y Co-Doped ZrO2 Solid Electrolyte Thin Films Prepared via Pulsed Laser Deposition

Scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y) co-doped ZrO2 (ScYSZ) thin films were prepared on a SiO2-Si substrate via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. In order to obtain good quality thin films with the desired microstructure, various oxygen partial pressures (PO2) from 0.01 Pa to 10 Pa and substrate temperatures (Ts) from 25 °C to 800 °C were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns results showed that amorphous ScYSZ thin films were formed at room substrate temperature while cubic polycrystalline thin films were obtained at higher substrate temperatures (Ts = 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C). Raman spectra revealed a distinct Raman shift at around 600 cm−1 supporting a cubic phase. However, a transition from cubic to tetragonal phase can be observed with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Photoemission spectroscopy (PES) spectra suggested supporting analysis that more oxygen vacancies in the lattice can be observed for samples deposited at lower oxygen partial pressures resulting in a cubic structure with higher dopant cation binding energies as compared to the tetragonal structure observed at higher oxygen partial pressure. On the other hand, dense morphologies can be obtained at lower PO2 (0.01 Pa and 0.1 Pa) while more porous morphologies can be obtained at higher PO2 (1.0 Pa and 10 Pa).

Influence of Substrate Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties of Co-Evaporated Cu2SnS3/ITO Thin Films

In this study report the structural and optical properties of Copper Tin Sulfide (Cu2SnS3) thin films on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate using co-evaporation technique. High purity of copper, tin and sulfur were taken as source materials to deposit Cu2SnS3 (CTS) thin films at different substrate temperatures (200-350 °C). Further, the effect of different substrate temperature on the crystallographic, morphological and optical properties of CTS thin films was investigated. The deposited CTS thin films shows tetragonal phase with preferential orientation along (112) plane confirmed by X-ray diffraction. Micro-Raman studies reveled the formation of CTS thin films. The surface morphology, average grain size and rms values of the deposited films are examined by Scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) shows the presence of copper, tin and sulfur with a nearly stoichiometric ratio. The optical band gap (1.76-1.63 eV) and absorption coefficient (~105 cm-1) of the films was calculated by using UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. The values of refractive index, extinction coefficient and permittivity of the deposited films were calculated from the optical transmittance data.

Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Nickel and Cobalt Phosphate for Lithium Ion Batteries

A plasma-enhanced ALD process has been developed to deposit nickel phosphate. The process combines a trimethylphosphate (TMP) plasma with an oxygen plasma and nickelocene at a substrate temperature of 300°C....