Structural and phase transformations during initial stages of copper condensation on Si(001)

Auger-electron spectroscopy, electron-energy loss spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, and atomic-force microscopy are employed to investigate the growth mechanism, composition, structural and phase states, and morphology of Cu films (0.1–1 nm thick) deposited on a Si(001)-2 × 1 surface at a lower temperature of Cu evaporation (900°C) and room temperature of a substrate. The Cu film phase is shown to start growing on the Si(001)⁻² × 1 surface after three Cu monolayers (MLs) are condensed. It has been revealed that atoms of Cu and Si(001) are mixed, a Cu₂Si film phase is formed, and, thereafter, Cu₃Si islands arise at a larger coating thickness. Annealing of the first Cu ML leads to reconstruction of the Si(001)-1 × 1-Cu surface layer, thereby modifying the film growth mechanism. As a consequence, the Cu₂Si film phase arises when the thickness reaches two to four MLs, and bulk Cu₃Si silicide islands begin growing at five to ten MLs. When islands continue to grow, their height and density reach, respectively, 1.5 nm and 2 × 10¹¹ cm⁻² and the island area is 70% of the substrate surface at a thickness of ten MLs.     

The GaP(001) surface and the adsorption of Cs

GaP(001) cleaned by argon-ion bombardment and annealed at 500°C showed the Ga-stabilized GaP(001)(4 × 2) structure. Only treatment in 10^?5 Torr PH₃ at 500°C gave the P-stabilized GaP(001)(1 × 2) structure. The AES peak ratio $\text{P}\text{Ga}$ is 2 for the (4 × 2) and 3.5 for the (1 × 2) structure. Cs adsorbs with a sticking probability of unity up to 5 × 10¹⁴ Cs atoms cm^?2 and a lower one at higher coverages. The photoemission measured with uv light of 3660 Å showed a maximum at the coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2. Cs adsorbs amorphously at room temperature, but heat treatment gives ordered structures, which are thought to be reconstructed GaP(001) structures induced by Cs. The LEED patterns showed the GaP(001)(1 × 2) Cs structure formed at 180°C for 10 h with a Cs coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, the GaP(001)(1 × 4) Cs formed at 210°C for 10 hours with a Cs coverage of 2.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, the GaP(001)(7 × 1) and the high temperature GaP(001)(1 × 4), the latter two with very low Cs content. Desorption measurements show three stability regions: (a) between 25–150°C for coverages greater than 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 1.2 eV; (b) between 180–200°C with a coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 1.8 eV; (c) between 210–400°C with a coverage of 2.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 2.5 eV.     

Correlation of plume dynamics and oxygen pressure with VO2 stoichiometry during pulsed laser deposition

Vanadium dioxide thin films have been deposited on Corning glass substrates by a KrF laser ablation of V₂O₅ target at the laser fluence of 2 J?cm^?2. The substrate temperature and the target-substrate distance were set to 500 ^°C and 4 cm, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that pure VO₂ is only obtained at an oxygen pressure range of 4×10^?3–2×10^?2 mbar. A higher optical switching contrast was obtained for the VO₂ films deposited at 4×10^?3–10^?2 mbar. The films properties were correlated to the plume-oxygen gas interaction monitored by fast imaging of the plume.     

Production and characterization of Nd,Cr:GSGG thin films on Si(001) grown by pulsed laser ablation

Nd,Cr:Gd₃Sc₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GSGG) thin films have been produced for the first time. They were grown on Si(001) substrates at 650 °C by pulsed laser ablation at 248 nm of a crystalline Nd,Cr:GSGG target rod. The laser plume was analyzed using time-of-flight quadrupole mass spectroscopy, and consisted of elemental and metal oxide fragments with kinetic energies typically in the range 10 to 40 eV, though extending up to 100 eV. Although films deposited in vacuum using laser fluences of 0.8±0.1 J cm⁻² reproduced the Nd,Cr:GSGG bulk stoichiometry, those deposited using fluences above ≈3 J cm⁻² resulted in noncongruent material transfer and were deficient in Ga and Cr. Attempts to grow films using synchronized oxygen or oxygen/argon pulses yielded mixed oxide phases. Under optimal growth conditions, the films were heteroepitaxial, with GSGG(001)[100]∥Si(001)[100], and exhibited Volmer–Weber-type growth. Room-temperature emission spectra of the films suggest efficient non-radiative energy transfer between Cr³⁺ and Nd³⁺ ions, similar to that of the bulk crystal. Received: 1 October 1999 / Accepted: 15 October 1999 / Published online: 23 February 2000     

Microstructural and optical properties of nanocrystalline undoped zirconia thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) thin films are deposited on Si (100) and quartz substrates at various substrate temperatures (room temperature–973 K) at an optimized oxygen partial pressure of 3×10^?2 mbar using pulsed laser deposition technique. The effect of substrate temperature on microstructural, optical and mechanical properties of the films is investigated. The X-ray diffraction studies show that the films deposited at temperatures ≤773 K are monoclinic, while the films deposited at temperatures ≥873 K show both monoclinic and tetragonal phases. Tetragonal phase content increases with the increase of substrate temperatures. The surface morphology and roughness are investigated using atomic force microscope in contact mode. The optical properties of the films show that the refractive indices (at 550 nm) are found to increase from 1.84 to 2.35 as the temperature raises from room temperature (RT) to 973 K. Nanoindentation measurements show that the hardness of the films is 11.8 and 13.7 GPa for the films deposited at 300 and 973 K, respectively.     

Pulsed laser deposition of ZnO as conductive buffer layer of (001)-LiNbO3 thin films

1 (LO) mode peak at 579 cm^-1, indicating oxygen deficiency in the films. Significant dependence of the electrical property for the films on substrate temperature was shown. The I–V relation of the films exhibited non-ohmic behavior. Whereas the films deposited above 500 °C showed a metal-like property, at a lower substrate temperature semiconducting thin films were achieved. The (001)-oriented LiNbO₃/ZnO heterostructure was successfully prepared on quartz fused and (001) sapphire plates. Received: 6 April 1998/Accepted: 26 May 1998     

Leed,aes and photoemission measurements of epitaxially grown GaAs(001), (111)A and (1̄1̄1̄)B surfaces and their behaviour upon cs adsorption

Epitaxially grown GaAs(001), (111) and (1?1?1?) surfaces and their behaviour on Cs adsorption are studied by LEED, AES and photoemission. Upon heat treatment the clean GaAs(001) surface shows all the structures of the As-stabilized to the Ga-stabilized surface. By careful annealing it is also possible to obtain the As-stabilized surface from the Ga-stabilized surface, which must be due to the diffusion of As from the bulk to the surface. The As-stabilized surface can be recovered from the Ga-stabilized surface by treating the surface at 400°C in an AsH₃ atmosphere. The Cs coverage of all these surfaces is linear with the dosage and shows a sharp breakpoint at 5.3 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2. The photoemission reaches a maximum precisely at the dosage of this break point for the GaAs(001) and GaAs(1?1?1?) surface, whereas for the GaAs(111) surface the maximum in the photoemission is reached at a higher dosage of 6.5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2. The maximum photoemission from all surfaces is in the order of 50μA Im^?1 for white light (T = 2850 K). LEED measurements show that Cs adsorbs as an amorphous layer on these surfaces at room temperature. Heat treatment of the Cs-activated GaAs (001) surface shows a stability region of 4.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2 at 260dgC and one of 2.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2 at 340°C without any ordering of the Cs atoms. Heat treatment of the Cs-activated GaAs(111) crystal shows a gradual desorption of Cs up to a coverage of 1 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, which is stable at 360°C and where LEED shows the formation of the GaAs(111) (√7 × √7)Cs structure. Heat treatment of the Cs-activated GaAs(1?1?1?) crystal shows a stability region at 260°C with a coverage of 3.8 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2 with ordering of the Cs atoms in a GaAs(1?1?1?) (4 × 4)Cs structure and at 340°C a further stability region with a coverage of 1 × 10¹⁴ at cm^?2 with the formation of a GaAs(1?1?1?) (√21 × √21)Cs structure. Possible models of the GaAs(1?1?1?) (4 × 4)Cs, GaAs(1?1?1?)(√21 × √21)Cs and GaAs(111) (√7 × √7)Cs structures are given.     

Structural and luminescent characteristics of pulsed laser deposited Eu3+-doped Y2O3 thin films

Thin films of Eu-doped Y₂O₃ were deposited using the pulsed laser ablation technique on amorphous fused silica substrates. The effect of oxygen partial pressure (pO₂) and substrate temperature on the structural and optical characteristics of the deposited films were investigated. All the deposited films were crystalline, showing preferred orientation along the (111) plane, irrespective of oxygen partial pressure and substrate temperature. The film deposited at 0.005?mbar pO₂ exhibited better crystallinity with minimum FWHM at a substrate temperature of 600°C. All the films deposited at various substrate temperatures and different partial pressure (at 600°C) exhibited a red luminescence peak at 615?nm corresponding to the ⁵D₀–⁷F₁ transition in Eu³⁺. Photoluminescence excitation spectra exhibited two bands, one corresponding to band to band excitation (212?nm) of the host and the other to charge transfer band excitation (245?nm). A microstructure analysis revealed that surface roughness of the as-deposited films increases with increase in oxygen partial pressure.     

Characterization of defect type and dislocation density in double oxide heteroepitaxial CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) films

In order to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the structural defects including the defect types and their concentrations in oxide heteroepitaxial films, a new X-ray rocking-curve width-fitting method was used in the case of doubleCeO₂/YSZ/Si (YSZ=yttria-stabilized ZrO₂) films that were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Two main defect types, angular rotation and oriented curvature, were found in both CeO₂ and YSZ. Dislocation densities of CeO₂ and YSZ, which were obtained from the angular rotations, are functions of the YSZ thickness. A distinct two-step correlation between dislocation densities of CeO₂ and YSZ was found that as the dislocation density of YSZ is higher than 2.4×10¹¹ cm^-2, the dislocation density of CeO₂ shows a high sensitivity with that of YSZ compared with the low relativity in lower dislocation density (<2.4×10¹¹ cm^-2). In addition, YSZ always has higher dislocation densities and oriented curvatures than CeO₂ in each specimen, which can be attributed to the smaller mosaic domain sizes in YSZ than in CeO₂ as observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Received: 12 August 2002 / Accepted: 14 August 2002 / Published online: 4 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-3/5734-3369, E-mail: chun_hua_chen@hotmail.com     

A LEED-AES study of the initial stages of oxidation of Fe (001)

LEED and AES have been used to study the structural changes and kinetics of the initial interaction between Fe(001) and oxygen at room temperature. The AES oxygen signal was quantified by using a two-dimensional oxide layer as a calibration point. This reproducible oxide layer was prepared by the high temperature reaction of H₂O at 10^?6 torr with Fe(001). The initial oxygen sticking coefficient was observed to be close to unity, which suggests that the chemisorption is non-activated and involves a mobile adsorption step. The rate of chemisorption decreased as (1-Θ) and exhibited a minimum at Θ = 0.5. LEED data indicate that the minimum value of the sticking coefficient corresponded to the completion of a c (2 × 2) surface structure. Upon additional exposure to oxygen, an increase in the sticking coefficient was observed in conjunction with the disappearance of the c (2 × 2) and a gradual fade out of all diffraction features. After mild heating, epitaxial FeO (001) and FeO (111) structures were observed. The simultaneous appearance of a shifted M_2,3M_4,5M_4,5 iron Auger transition with the increase in the sticking coefficient and the disappearance of the c (2 × 2) indicated that oxide nucleated on the surface after the complete formation of the c (2 × 2) structure. The relatively high sticking coefficient during the initial oxidation indicates that formation of a mobile adsorbed oxygen state precedes the formation of oxide.     

氮离子轰击钼(001)和钼(110)表面形成的有序结构

用能量为1千电子伏,束流为6微安的氮离子轰击含有痕量碳和氧的钼(001)和钼(110)表面10至15分钟,在俄歇能谱中出现了很强的氮的俄歇峰。从室温直到350℃退火,低能电子衍射观察表明,表面是无序层。样品加热到530℃和650℃之间,在钼(001)表面上得到c(2×2)-氮,p(2×2)-氮和(4(2^1/2)×2^1/2)R45°-氮、氧三种结构的低能电子衍射图;在密堆的钼(110)面得到单一结构的c(7×3)-氮的低能电子衍射图。低能电子衍射图与热脱附密切相关 关键词：     

Structure and electrical characterization of amorphous ErSiO films deposited by rf magnetron sputtering on Si (001)

Amorphous ErSiO films have been fabricated on p-type Si (001) substrates using rf magnetron sputtering technique. X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy were employed to investigate the samples. It is found that ErSiO film exhibits a flat surface, a sharp interface and superior electrical properties after post-deposition annealing in O₂ ambience for 30 min at 450°C. The effective dielectric constant of the film is measured to be 14.2, and the effective oxide thickness reaches 1.9 nm, with a low leakage current density of 1.1×10⁻⁴ A/cm² at an electric field of 1 MV cm⁻¹ after annealing at 450°C. The obtained characteristics make the amorphous ErSiO films a promising substitute for SiO₂ as a high-k gate dielectric.     

Effect of annealing treatment on the uniformity of CeO2/TiO2 bilayer resistive switching memory devices

Bilayer CeO₂/TiO₂ films with high-k dielectric property were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering technique at room temperature. Effect of annealing treatment on resistive switching (RS) properties of bilayer CeO₂/TiO₂ films in O₂ ambient at different temperature in the range of 350–550 °C was investigated. Our results revealed that the bilayer films had good interfacial property at 500 °C and this annealing temperature is optimum for different RS characteristics. Results showed that bilayer CeO₂/TiO₂ film perform better uniformity and reliability in resistive switching at intermediate temperature (i.e. 450 °C and 500 °C) instead of low and high annealing temperature (i.e. 350 °C and 550 °C) at which it exhibits poor crystalline structure with more amorphous background. Less Gibbs free energy of TiO₂ as compared to CeO₂ results in an easier re-oxidation of the filament through the oxygen exchange with TaN electrode. However, the excellent endurance property (>2500 cycles), data retentions (10⁵ s) and good cycle-to-cycle uniformity is observed only in 500 °C annealed devices. The plots of cumulative probability, essential memory parameter, show a good distribution of Set/Reset voltage.     

Nonlinear optical absorption and refraction of epitaxial Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films on (001) MgO substrates

Highly epitaxial Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃ (BST) ferroelectric thin films were fabricated on (001) MgOsubstrates by pulsed laser deposition. The nonlinear optical absorption coefficients (β) and refraction indices (γ) of the BST thin films on (001) MgO substrates were investigated using the single beam Z-scan technique with femtosecond laser pulses at the wavelengths of 790 nm and 395 nm, respectively, at room temperature. The nonlinear absorption coefficients of BST thin films were measured to be ∼0.087 cm/GW and ∼0.77 cm/GW at 790 nm and 395 nm, respectively. The nonlinear refraction indices of BST thin films exhibit a strong dispersion from a positive value of 6.1×10^-5 cm²/GW at 790 nm to a negative value of -4.0×10^-5 cm²/GW at 395 nm near band gap. The dispersion of γ is roughly consistent with Sheik-Bahae’s theory for the bound electronic nonlinear refraction resulting from the two-photon resonance. These results show that the BST film is a promising material as a candidate for nonlinear optical applications. PACS 42.70.Mp; 78.20.-e; 81.05.-t     

Study of ultrathin iron silicide films grown by solid phase epitaxy on the Si(001) surface

Ultrathin films of iron silicide have been grown by high-temperature annealing of 0.14-to O.5O-nm-thick Fe films deposited on the Si(001) surface at room temperature. It has been found that annealing leads to the formation of nanoislands of iron silicide on the surface, so that their type depends on the thickness of the Fe film. High-energy electron diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements have revealed that the deposition of Fe films less than 0.32 nm thick on the Si(001) surface stimulates epitaxial growth of both three-dimensional β-FeSi₂ and two-dimensional γ-FeSi₂ islands. It has been found that, for Fe coverages of more than 0.32 nm thick, a complete transition to solide phase epitaxy is observed only for two-dimensional β-FeSi₂ islands. The effect of prolonged annealing at 850°C on the morphology of the surface of the iron silicide film has been investigated.     

Structural and optical characterization of DC magnetron sputtered molybdenum oxide films

Thin films of molybdenum trioxide were deposited on glass substrates employing direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering by sputtering of molybdenum at different oxygen partial pressures in the range 8 × 10⁻⁵–1 × 10⁻³ mbar and at a substrate temperature of 473 K. The glow discharge characteristics of magnetron cathode target of molybdenum were studied. The influence of oxygen partial pressure on the structural and optical properties of molybdenum trioxide films was investigated. The films formed at an optimum oxygen partial pressure of 2 × 10⁻⁴ mbar were polycrystalline in nature with orthorhombic α- phase and an optical band gap of 3.16 eV. The refractive index of the films formed at an oxygen partial pressure of 2 × 10⁻⁴ mbar decreased from 2.08 to 1.89 with increase of wavelength from 450 to 1,000 nm, respectively. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Ionic Devices (ICID 2006), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, Dec. 7–9, 2006.     

Distinct correlation between CeO2 and YSZ in out-of-plane and in-plane mosaic dispersions of heteroepitaxial CeO2/YSZ/Si(001) films

The structural correlations including the lattice constants and the mosaic dispersions between CeO₂ and yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) in CeO₂/YSZ/Si(001) heteroepitaxial films have been investigated by out-of-plane and in-plane X-ray-diffraction techniques. The distinct linear correlations of the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the ω scan between CeO₂ and YSZ have been found in both directions. CeO₂ always has a 0.7° lower FWHM of the ω scan than YSZ in the out-of-plane direction, but has a 2.6° higher FWHM in the in-plane direction. A possible relationship between the out-of-plane and in-plane FWHMs of the ω scans has been demonstrated with a lattice-rotation model. Besides, the lattice constants of CeO₂ are dependent on the FWHMs of the YSZ ω scans: as the FWHM is below 3.5°, CeO₂ has a tetragonal distortion, and as the FWHM is higher than 3.5°, CeO₂ exhibits a cubic structure without distortion. The results are of great interest, both for the fundamental understanding of the film-growth mechanisms and for potential applications. Received: 11 September 2000 / Accepted: 5 June 2001 / Published online: 30 August 2001     

Effect of growth defects on microwave properties in epitaxial Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films grown on (001) MgO by pulsed laser deposition

Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃ (BSTO) films have been grown heteroepitaxially on (001) MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to fabricate microwave phase shifters for the wide frequency range 45 MHz–50 GHz. Both as-grown and ex situ annealed films have a cube on cube epitaxial relationship with ?100?BSTO//?100?MgO. Threading dislocations are the dominant defects, mostly with Burgers vectors b = ?101?. Growth at 10^?1 mbar oxygen pressure, compared to 10^?4 mbar, resulted in significantly better properties. Ex situ annealing of the film grown at 0.1 mbar resulted in a reduction of 40% in threading dislocation density and a 40% increase in dielectric tunability.     

La0.67Ca0.33MnO3(001)薄膜表面结构的扫描隧道显微术研究

利用Scanning Tunneling Microscope(STM)和Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy(STS)技术研究了La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃(001)表面性质,研究发现表面呈现多相分离现象,在锰氧终端面观察到了绝缘性的( 2 × 2 )R45°重构表面和金属性的(1×1)重构表面,在镧钙氧终端面,观察到了表面呈现条纹状结构.La_0.67Ca_{0.33 关键词： 镧钙锰氧薄膜 终端面 绝缘金属转变}     

Substitution mechanism of Ga for Zn site depending on deposition temperature for transparent conducting oxides

High quality transparent conductive gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using rf-magnetron sputtering system at the temperature ranging from room temperature (RT) to 500 °C. The temperature-dependence of Ga doping effect on the structural, optical and electrical properties in ZnO has been investigated. For the GZO thin films deposited at over 200 °C, (103) orientation was strongly observed by X-ray diffraction analysis, which is attributed to the substitution of Ga elements into Zn site. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements have confirmed that oxygen vacancies were generated at the temperature higher than 300 °C. This might be due to the effective substitution of Ga³⁺ for Zn site at higher temperature. It was also found that the optical band gap increases with deposition temperature. The optical transmittance of GZO thin films was above 87% in the visible region. The GZO thin films grown at 500 °C showed a low electrical resistivity of 4.50 × 10^?4 Ω cm, a carrier concentration of 6.38 × 10²⁰ cm^?3 and a carrier mobility of 21.69 cm²/V.