Influence of buffer layer thickness on the structure and optical properties of ZnO thin films

A series of ZnO thin films were deposited on ZnO buffer layers by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The buffer layer thickness determination of microstructure and optical properties of ZnO films was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), optical transmittance and absorption measurements. XRD results revealed that the stress of ZnO thin films varied with the buffer layer thickness. With the increase of buffer layer thickness, the band gap edge shifted toward longer wavelength. The near-band-edge (NBE) emission intensity of ZnO films deposited on ZnO buffer layer also varied with the increase of thickness due to the spatial confinement increasing the Coulomb interaction between electrons and holes. The PL measurement showed that the optimum thickness of the ZnO buffer layer was around 12 nm.     

Revision of single atom local density and capture number varying with coverage in uniform depletion approximation and its effect on coalescence and number of stable clusters

In vapour deposition,single atoms (adatoms) on the substrate surface are the main source of growth.The change in its density plays a decisive role in the growth of thin films and quantum size islands.In the nucleation and cluster coalescence stages of vapour deposition,the growth of stable clusters occurs on the substrate surface covered by stable clusters.Nucleation occurs in the non-covered part,while the total area covered by stable clusters on the substrate surface will gradually increase.Carefully taking into account the coverage effect,a revised single atom density rate equation is given for the famous and widely used thin-film rate equation theory,but the work of solving the revised equation has not been done.In this paper,we solve the equation and obtain the single-atom density and capture number by using a uniform depletion approximation.We determine that the single atom density is much lower than that evaluated from the single atom density rate equation in the traditional rate equation theory when the stable cluster coverage fraction is large,and it goes down very fast with an increase in the coverage fraction.The revised equation gives a higher value for the ’average’ capture number than the present equation.It also increases with increasing coverage.That makes the preparation of single crystalline thin film materials difficult and the size control of quantum size islands complicated.We also discuss the effect of the revision on coalescence and the number of stable clusters in vapour deposition.     

掺硅类金刚石膜的制备与力学性能研究

用脉冲电弧离子镀技术,通过调整掺硅石墨靶和纯石墨靶的数量,制备了一系列不同硅含量的类金刚石薄膜样品.研究发现：当硅含量达6.7at.%时,类金刚石薄膜的应力从4.5GPa降低到3.1GPa,薄膜的硬度还保持在3600Hv,和没有掺杂的类金刚石薄膜的硬度相比,基本保持不变;当硅含量小于6.7at.％时薄膜的摩擦系数相对于未掺杂的类金刚石薄膜也保持不变,为0.15.当薄膜中硅含量继续增加时,薄膜中C—Si键的含量增多,导致薄膜硬度和应力都有较大幅度地减小、摩擦系数增大、磨损性能也变差了. 关键词： 类金刚石膜 掺硅 应力 硬度     

金刚石薄膜的结构特征对薄膜附着性能的影响

在不同实验条件下，用微波等离子体化学气相沉积设备在硬质合金(WC+6%Co)衬底上沉积了 具有不同结构特征的金刚石薄膜.用Raman谱表征薄膜的品质和应力，用压痕实验表征薄膜的 附着性能，考察了薄膜中sp²杂化碳含量、形核密度、薄膜厚度对薄膜附着性能 的影响.结 果表明：sp²杂化碳的缓冲作用使薄膜中sp²杂化碳的含量对薄膜中 残余应力有较大的影 响，从而使薄膜压痕开裂直径统计性地随sp²杂化碳含量的增加而减小；仅仅依 靠超声遗 留的金刚石晶籽提高形核密度并不能有效改变薄膜与硬质合金基体之间的化学结合状况，从 而不能有效提高薄膜在衬底上的附着性能；在薄膜较薄时，晶粒之间没有压应力的存在，开 裂直径并不明显随厚度增加而增加，只有当薄膜厚度增加到一定值，晶粒之间才有较强压应 力存在，开裂直径随厚度的增加而较为迅速地增加. 关键词： 金刚石薄膜 附着性能 2杂化碳')" href="#">sp²杂化碳 成核密度 薄膜厚度     

Influences of oxygen partial pressure on structure and related properties of ZrO2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation deposition

ZrO₂ thin films were prepared by electron beam evaporation at different oxygen partial pressures. The influences of oxygen partial pressure on structure and related properties of ZrO₂ thin films were studied. Transmittance, thermal absorption, structure and residual stress of ZrO₂ thin films were measured by spectrophotometer, surface thermal lensing technique (STL), X-ray diffraction and optical interferometer, respectively. The results showed that the structure and related properties varied progressively with the increase of oxygen partial pressure. The refractive indices and the packing densities of the thin films decreased when the oxygen partial pressure increased. The tetragonal phase fraction in the thin films decreased gradually as oxygen partial pressure increased. The residual stress of film deposited at base pressure was high compressive stress, the value decreased with the increase of oxygen partial pressure, and the residual stress became tensile with the further increase of oxygen pressure, which was corresponding to the evolution of packing densities and variation of interplanar distances.     

Molecular recoiling in polymer thin film dewetting

The molecular recoiling force stemming from nonequilibrium chain conformation was found to play a very important role in the dewetting stability of polymer thin films. Correct measurements and inclusion of this molecular force into thermodynamic consideration are crucial for analyzing dewetting phenomena and nanoscale polymer chain physics. This force was measured using a simple method based on contour relaxation at the incipient dewetting holes. The recoiling stress was found to increase dramatically with molecular weight and decreasing film thickness. The corresponding forces were calculated to be in the range from 9.0 to 28.2 mN/m, too large to be neglected when compared to the dispersive forces (approximately 10 mN/m) commonly operative in thin polymer films.     

Coercive field behavior of permalloy antidot arrays based on self-assembled template fabrication

High-density magnetic antidot arrays have been fabricated by deposition of Fe₂₀Ni₈₀ thin films on self-assembled nanoporous alumina membranes (NAM) with high-order hexagonal symmetry. The magnetic properties induced by the size and the geometry configuration of the holes introduced in a Fe₂₀Ni₈₀ thin film are discussed based on hysteresis loops measured as a function of temperature. The precursor NAMs have pore diameters ranging between 35 and 95 nm (55 and 75 nm after the film deposition) and a lattice parameter of 105 nm. An enormous increase of coercitivity, as compared with the corresponding continuous films, was observed for temperatures between 2 and 300 K. This effect depends on the size and surface density of holes in the Fe₂₀Ni₈₀ antidot arrays. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) measurements were performed in order to better clarify the magnetic material that was eventually deposited within the NAM pores.     

Effect of deposition condition on residual stress of iron nitride thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering and ion implantation

The surface roughness and residual stress development in Fe-N thin films prepared by compound technology—combining magnetron sputtering with plasma based ion implantation were investigated by means of atomic force microscope and synchrotron radiation. The results indicate that the grain size of the thin film increases with the increasing of nitrogen ion implantation time, and the state of residual stress is related closely to the formation mechanism of thin films. With the nitrogen ion implantation time increasing, the residual stress of the thin film changes into tensile stress from initial compressive stress, and the tensile stress decreases with the further increasing of ion implantation time.     

Surface morphological response of crystalline solids to mechanical stresses and electric fields

Surface morphological evolution under the action of external fields is a fascinating topic that has attracted considerable attention within the surface science community over the past two decades. In addition to the interest in a fundamental understanding of field-induced nonlinear response and stability of surface morphology, the problem has been technologically significant in various engineering applications such as microelectronics and nanofabrication. In this report, we review theoretical progress in modeling the surface morphological response of stressed elastic solids under conditions that promote surface diffusion and of electrically conducting solids under surface electromigration conditions. A self-consistent model of surface transport and morphological evolution is presented that has provided the basis for the theoretical and computational work that is reviewed. According to this model, the surface morphological response of electrically conducting elastic solids to the simultaneous action of mechanical stresses and electric fields is analyzed. Emphasis is placed on metallic surfaces, including surfaces of voids in metallic thin films.Surfaces of stressed elastic solids are known to undergo morphological instabilities, such as the Asaro–Tiller or Grinfeld (ATG) instability that leads to emanation of crack-like features from the surface and their fast propagation into the bulk of the solid material. This instability is analyzed theoretically, simulated numerically, and compared with experimental measurements. The surface morphological evolution of electrically conducting, single-crystalline, stressed elastic solids under surface electromigration conditions is also examined. We demonstrate that, through surface electromigration, a properly applied and sufficiently strong electric field can stabilize the surface morphology of the stressed solid against both crack-like ATG instabilities and newly discovered secondary rippling instabilities; the effects of important parameters, such as surface crystallographic orientation, on the surface morphological response to the simultaneous action of an electric field and mechanical stress also are reviewed. In addition, electromigration-driven surface morphological response is analyzed systematically, focusing on the current-driven surface morphological evolution of voids in metallic thin films; this analysis has been motivated largely by the crucial role of void dynamics in determining the reliability of metallic interconnects in integrated circuits and has led to the interpretation of a large body of experimental observations and measurements. The electromigration-driven translational motion of morphologically stable voids, effects of current-driven void dynamics on the evolution of the electrical resistance of metallic thin films, and current-driven void–void interactions also are reviewed. Furthermore, theoretical studies are reviewed that demonstrated very interesting current-driven nonlinear void dynamics in stressed metallic thin films, including the inhibition of electromigration-induced instabilities due to the action of biaxial tensile stress, and stress effects on the electromigration-driven translational motion of morphologically stable voids.Complex, oscillatory surface states under surface electromigration conditions have been observed in numerical studies. In this report, emphasis is placed on void surfaces in metallic thin films, for which stable time-periodic states have been demonstrated. It is shown that increasing parameters such as the electric-field strength or the void size past certain critical values leads to morphological transitions from steady to time-periodic states; the latter states are characterized by wave propagation on the surface of a void that migrates along the metallic film at constant speed. The transition onset corresponds to a Hopf bifurcation that may be either supercritical or subcritical, depending on the symmetry of the surface diffusional anisotropy as determined by the crystallographic orientation of the film plane. It is also shown that, in the case where the Hopf bifurcation is subcritical, the simultaneous action of mechanical stress leads the current-driven void morphological response to the stabilization of chaotic attractors; in such cases, as the applied stress level increases, the void dynamics is set on a route to chaos through a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations. The observation of current-driven chaotic dynamics in homoepitaxial islands also is discussed.     

Fe掺杂对CdS光学特性的影响

采用低压金属有机化学气相沉积技术,在固定源流量的条件下,通过调节衬底温度(270~360℃)生长了不同Fe掺杂浓度的CdS薄膜。光谱测量表明低铁掺杂对CdS晶格振动的影响较小,但对光致发光性质影响较为明显。样品的光致发光谱包括两部分:2.5eV附近带-带跃迁的发光以及2.0~2.4eV之间与缺陷相关的发光。随着铁含量的增加,带-带跃迁逐渐被抑制,发光光谱被缺陷相关的发光主导,同时薄膜的电导也由n型转为p型,说明Fe离子掺入在薄膜引入了受主杂质。通过不同激发密度下的光致发光光谱测量,我们将2.0~2.4eV的发光归结为铁受主相关的D-A对发射,并根据掺杂浓度和发光峰位置估算了Fe受主的能级位置。     

Surface segregational behaviour studied as an effect of thickness by SIMS and AFM in annealed PS-PMMA blend and block copolymer thin films

The surface behaviour of a two-phase polymer mixture depends on the chemical structure of the polymer components, the interaction between the two polymers and the processing conditions. The microscopic morphology and the surface composition need to be known in order to fully utilize the thin film properties. The technique of static time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is used to obtain the molecular surface composition of thin films of blends and block copolymers. The depth profiling tool of Nano-SIMS, a dynamic SIMS technique, helps to provide the chemical mapping of the surface in 2D and 3D. The surface morphology is investigated using AFM. Thin films of PS and PMMA diblock copolymers with molecular weight of 12K-12K and 10K-10K and blends of PS/PMMA (10K/10K) for thicknesses ranging from 5 nm to 50 nm are examined. For the blends, the ToF-SIMS spectra for all the thicknesses show the same behaviour of a high increase of PMMA on the surface after annealing. Nano-SIMS images reveal the formation of nanostructures on the annealed surfaces and AFM studies show these nanostructures to be droplets having distinct phase shift from the surrounding matrix. The droplet dimensions increase with the increase of the thickness of the film but the absolute intensity from the ToF-SIMS spectra for all the annealed films remains almost the same. For the copolymers, the ToF-SIMS spectra show that there is a decrease of PMMA on the surface for the annealed films when compared to the as-cast ones. AFM morphology reveals that, for different thicknesses, annealing induces different topographical features like droplets, holes, spinodal patterns, etc. but with no distinct phase shift between the patterns and the surrounding matrix. The two different copolymers of comparable molecular weight are found to exhibit very different topography even when the thickness of the films remained the same. The surface composition from the ToF-SIMS data, however, was not found to vary even when the topography was completely different.     

光学薄膜残余应力分配预测模型计算方法研究

残余应力是光学薄膜研究的一个重要组成部分，它对光学元器件有很大的影响。根据弹性力学原理，基于应变不匹配，提出了一种可以预测薄膜残余应力分配的理论模型计算方法，并将计算结果与干涉仪测量值进行了对比。利用所建立的模型分析了薄膜参数变化时基底残余应力的变化情况。结果表明：所建模型合理；随着镀膜温度的增加，基底总残余应力随镀膜温度升高而呈增大的趋势;本征应力变化不太大；随着基底厚度的减小，基底上下表面应力呈增大的趋势，而薄膜应力则呈减小趋势，但变化趋势很小。基底的中心轴约位于基底上表面以下2／3处。     

基片曲率法在多孔硅薄膜残余应力检测中的应用

通过基底曲率法设计和制作了一种测量薄膜应力的装置，它具有全场性、非接触性、高分辨率、无破坏、数据获取速度快等特点.使用该装置测量了电化学腐蚀法制作的多孔硅薄膜的残余应力，并研究了孔隙率和基底掺杂浓度对残余应力的影响，结果表明随着孔隙率的增加和硼离子掺杂浓度的提高，多孔硅表面的拉伸应力逐渐加大，由此表明多孔硅薄膜的微观结构与残余应力的大小有着密切的联系. 关键词： 薄膜 残余应力 孔隙率 多孔硅     

Shear response of molecularly thin liquid films to an applied air stress

The shear response of molecularly thin liquid films on solid substrates when subjected to an applied air stress has been measured. The response corresponds to viscous friction while the same films sheared between two solid surfaces display static friction. These results show that molecularly thin liquid films partially confined by a single solid surface do not solidify as when confined between two solid surfaces. We are also able to observe several novel properties for liquid films on single solid surfaces not previously observed or expected.     

Modulation of refractive index and thickness of poly(methyl methacrylate) thin films with UV irradiation and heat treatment

This paper reports changes in refractive index and thickness of spin-coated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) thin films upon irradiation by a conventional high-pressure mercury UV lamp. Significant increase in refractive index and reduction in thickness are detected. Index modulations of greater than 0.01 are achieved in the thin films after 4 min of irradiation. The thickness reduction of an irradiated PMMA film is consistent with its weight loss. This is caused by the escape of the volatile molecules generated during the irradiation process. A slight increase in the refractive index is also found in the film, heat-treated above its glass transition temperature (Tg). This thermal effect is detected in the UV irradiation process. We propose three possible aliphatic structures that are formed during the photochemical reaction and may exist in the main chain of irradiated PMMA after the irradiation. Their refractive indices in aggregate state are greater than that of PMMA based on an evaluation using the Lorentz-Lorenz equation. This is suggested to be an important reason for the refractive index increase in the UV-irradiated PMMA films. A UV-irradiated film, heat-treated above its Tg, has a rough surface with many tiny holes as illustrated by atomic force microscopy. These holes are attributed to the evaporation of the small molecules generated during the irradiation process.     

Charge-carrier density collapse in La0.67Ca0.33MnO3and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 epitaxial thin films

We measured the temperature dependence of the linear high field Hall resistivity of ( K) and ( K) thin films in the temperature range from 4 K up to 360 K in magnetic fields up to 20 T. At low temperatures we find a charge-carrier density of 1.3 and 1.4 holes per unit cell for the Ca- and Sr-doped compound, respectively. In this temperature range electron-magnon scattering contributes to the longitudinal resistivity. At the ferromagnetic transition temperature a dramatic drop in the number of charge-carriers n down to 0.6 holes per unit cell, accompanied by an increase in unit cell volume, is observed. Corrections of the Hall data due to a non saturated magnetic state will lead a more pronounced charge-carrier density collapse. Received 22 July 1999 and Received in final form 7 October 1999     

Raman study of a-Si:H films deposited by PECVD at various silane temperatures before glow-discharge

The ordering evolution of the amorphous network of a-Si:H thin films with increasing initial silane-gas temperatures was investigated by Raman spectroscopy. The results show that there exists a gradual ordering of the amorphous network, both in the near surface and interior region on increasing the silane-gas temperature. In addition, the increase in the gas temperature leads to an improved ordering of amorphous network on the short and intermediate scales towards the surface of a-Si:H thin films. Post-annealing at 250 °C for 3 h mainly leads to a short and intermediate range improvement in the interior region of the films. Our present results suggest that a-Si:H thin films with better quality could be deposited at higher silane-gas temperature. PACS 63.50.+x; 61.43.-j; 75.40.-s     

二氧化锆薄膜表面粗糙度的研究

采用电子束蒸发工艺,利用泰勒霍普森相关相干表面轮廓粗糙度仪,研究了不同基底粗糙度、不同二氧化锆薄膜厚度以及不同的离子束辅助能量下所沉积的二氧化锆薄膜的表面粗糙度。结果表明：随着基底表面粗糙度的增加,二氧化锆薄膜表面粗糙度呈现出先缓慢增加,当基底的粗糙度大于10nm后呈现快速增加的趋势;随着二氧化锆薄膜厚度的增加,其表面均方根粗糙度（RMS）先减小后增大;随着辅助沉积离子能量的增加,其表面粗糙度呈现出先减小后增加的趋势。     

Templating of thin films induced by dewetting on patterned surfaces

The instability, dynamics, and morphological transitions of patterns in thin liquid films on chemically heterogeneous striped surfaces are investigated based on 3D nonlinear simulations. The film breakup is suppressed on some potentially destabilizing nonwettable sites when their spacing is below a characteristic length scale of the instability, lambda(h). The thin film pattern replicates the substrate surface energy pattern closely only when (i) the periodicity of substrate pattern lies between lambda(h) and 2lambda(h), and (ii) the stripe width is within a range bounded by a lower critical length, below which no heterogeneous rupture occurs, and an upper transition length above which complex morphological features unlike the substrate pattern are formed.     

Relaxation of residual stress and reentanglement of polymers in spin-coated films

Performing detailed studies of viscoelastic dewetting of thin polystyrene films on solid substrates, we demonstrate the existence of residual stress due to strongly out of equilibrium chain conformations and a reduced entanglement density resulting from film preparation by spin coating. The ratio of stress over elastic modulus was found to increase strongly with decreasing film thickness and increasing chain length. Full equilibration of chain conformations required long times comparable to bulk reptation times. However, for chains longer than about 3000 monomers, the residual stress relaxed faster, at a rate independent of chain length.