Reactive Ion Etching as Cleaning Method Post Chemical Mechanical Polishing for Phase Change Memory Device

In order to improve nano-scale phase change memory performance, a super-clean interface should be obtained after chemical mechanical polishing （CMP） of Ge2Sb2Te5 phase change films. We use reactive ion etching （RIE） as the cleaning method. The cleaning effect is analysed by scanning electron microscopy and an energy dispersive spectrometer. The results show that particle residue on the surface has been removed. Meanwhile, Ge2Sb2Te5 material stoichiometric content ratios are unchanged. After the top electrode is deposited, currentvoltage characteristics test demonstrates that the set threshold voltage is reduced from 13 V to 2.7V and the threshold current from 0.1 mA to 0.025 mA. Furthermore, we analyse the RIE cleaning principle and compare it with the ultrasonic method.     

Effect of Chemicals on Chemical Mechanical Polishing of Glass Substrates

We investigate the effect of chemicals on chemical mechanical polishing （CMP） of glass substrates. Ceria slurry in an ultra-low concentration of 0.25 wt. % is used and characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Three typical molecules, i.e. acetic acid, citric acid and sodium acrylic polymer, are adopted to investigate the effect on CMP performance in terms of material removal rate （MRR） and surface quality. The addition of sodium acrylic polymer shows the highest MRR as well as the best surface by atomic force microscopy after CMP, while the addition of citric acid shows the worst performance. These results reveal a mechanism that a long-chain molecule without any branches rather than small molecules and common molecules with ramose abundant-electron groups is better for the dispersion of the slurry and thus better for the CMP process.     

Fabrication and Optical Characterization of GaN-Based Nanopillar Light Emitting Diodes

InGaN/GaN-multiple-quantum-well-based light emitting diode (LED) nanopillar arrays with a diameter of approximately 200nm and a height of 700nm are fabricated by inductively coupled plasma etching using Ni self-assembled nanodots as etching mask. In comparison to the as-grown LED sample an enhancement by a factor of four of photoluminescence (PL) intensity is achieved after the fabrication of nanopillars, and a blue shift and a decrease of full width at half maximum of the PL peak are observed. The method of additional wet etching with different chemical solutions is used to remove the etch-induced damage. The result shows that the dilute HCl (HCl:H₂O=1:1) treatment is the most effective. The PL intensity of nanopillar LEDs after such a treatment is about 3.5 times stronger than that before treatment.     

Effect of Pretreatment of TaN Substrates on Atomic Layer Deposition Growth of Ru Thin Films

The polycrystalline ruthenium films are grown on TaN substrates by atomic layer deposition （ALD） using bis（cyclopentadienyl） ruthenium [RuCp2] and oxygen as ruthenium precursor and reactant respectively at a deposition temperature of 330℃. The low-energy Ar ion bombardment and Ru pre-deposition are performed to the underlying TaN substrates before ALD process in order to improve the Ru nucleation. X-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy are carried out to characterize the properties of ALD Ru films. The results show that the nucleation density of Ru films with Ar^＋ bombardment to the underlying TaN substrates is much higher than that of the ones without any pretreatment. The possible reasons are discussed.     

Current instabilities in dynamic random access memory storage capacitor formed with electron beam deposited Y2O3 dielectric

Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) storage capacitors based on electron beam deposited Y₂O₃ extrinsic dielectric on Si show changes in capacitance density depending on the amorphous and crystalline phases. Bias stress cycle-dependent changes in capacitance density occur due to the non-equilibrium nature of defect states at the Y₂O₃/Si interface after O₂ annealing as a result of the emergence of a 4–8 nm thick SiO₂ film at the interface. Leakage currents show instability under repeated dc bias stress, the nature and extent of which depend upon the structure of the Y₂O₃ gate dielectric and the polarity of dc bias. With amorphous Y₂O₃, leakage currents drift to lower values under gate injection due to electron trapping, and to higher values under Si-injection due to the generation of holes. Though leakage current drift is minimal for crystalline Y₂O₃, its magnitude increases as the energy of injected electrons from mid-gap states is low and the local field due to asperity is high. The emergence of interfacial SiO₂ reduces the magnitude of Si-injection leakage current substantially, but causes transient changes resulting in switching to higher values at a threshold dc bias. Thermal detrapping of holes and reverse bias stress studies confirm that the instability of current is caused by an increase in the cathodic field from hole trapping at interface states. Leakage current instability limits the application of extrinsic high dielectric constant dielectrics in a high density DRAM storage capacitor, unless a new interface layer scheme other than SiO₂ and a method to form a defect-free dielectric layer can be implemented. Received: 29 October 2001 / Accepted: 22 April 2002 / Published online: 4 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-413/545-4611, E-mail: rastogi@ecs.umass.edu     

Mechanical and optical properties of CNx films with high N/C ratio

Nitrogen-rich carbon nitride films were prepared by three different deposition methods on fused silica, stainless steel and silicon cantilever substrates. Their optical properties were studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry and UV spectrometry. Mechanical properties such as plastic and Vickers microhardness, Young’s modulus, adhesion and film stress were also tested. The results were compared with the properties of films with lower nitrogen concentrations. Received: 26 January 2001 / Accepted: 29 January 2001 / Published online: 3 May 2001     

Laser removal of copper particles from silicon wafers using UV, visible and IR radiation

Laser removal of small copper particles from silicon wafer surfaces was carried out using Nd:YAG laser radiation from near-infrared (1064 nm) through visible (532 nm) to ultraviolet (266 nm). It has been found that both 266 nm and 532 nm are successful in removing the particles from the surface whereas 1064 nm was shown to be ineffective in the removal of particles. The damage-threshold laser fluence at 266 nm was much higher than other wavelengths which provides a much wider regime for safe cleaning of the surface without causing any substrate damage. The cleaning efficiency was increased with a shorter wavelength. The effect of laser wavelength in the removal process is discussed by considering the adhesion force of the particle on the surface and the laser-induced cleaning forces for the three wavelengths. Received: 31 May 2000 / Accepted: 14 July 2000 / Published online: 20 June 2001     

Iron contamination in silicon technology

This article continues the review of fundamental physical properties of iron and its complexes in silicon (Appl. Phys. A 69, 13 (1999)), and is focused on ongoing applied research of iron in silicon technology. The first section of this article presents an analysis of the effect of iron on devices, including integrated circuits, power devices, and solar cells. Then, sources of unintentional iron contamination and reaction paths of iron during device manufacturing are discussed. Experimental techniques to measure trace contamination levels of iron in silicon, such as minority carrier lifetime techniques (SPV, μ-PCD, and ELYMAT), deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) and vapor-phase decomposition TXRF (VPD-TXRF), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), mass spectrometry and its modifications (SIMS, SNMS, ICP-MS), and neutron activation analysis (NAA) are reviewed in the second section of the article. Prospective analytical tools, such as heavy-ion backscattering spectroscopy (HIBS) and synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe techniques (XPS, XANES, XRF) are briefly discussed. The third section includes a discussion of the present achievements and challenges of the electrochemistry and physics of cleaning of silicon wafers, with an emphasis on removal of iron contamination from the wafers. Finally, the techniques for gettering of iron are presented. Received: 16 November 1999 / Accepted: 7 January 2000 / Published online: 5 April 2000     

The effect of hydrogen peroxide on polishing removal rate in CMP with various abrasives

The effect of hydrogen peroxide in chemical mechanical planarization slurries for shallow trench isolation was investigated. The various abrasives used in this study were ceria, silica, alumina, zirconia, titania, silicon carbide, and silicon nitride. Hydrogen peroxide suppresses the polishing of silicon dioxide and silicon nitride surfaces by ceria abrasives. The polishing performances of other abrasives were either unaffected or enhanced slightly with the addition of hydrogen peroxide. The ceria abrasives were treated with hydrogen peroxide, and the polishing of the work surfaces with the treated abrasive shows that the inhibiting action of hydrogen peroxide is reversible. It was found that the effect of hydrogen peroxide as an additive is a strong function of the nature of the abrasive particle.     

High Speed and Ultra-Low-Power Phase Change Line Cell Memory Based on SiSb Thin Films with Nanoscale Gap of Electrodes Less Than 100nm

Si16Sbs4-based line cell phase change random access memory （PCRAM）, in which the Si16Sbs4 phase change line is contacted by TiN electrodes with a nanoscale gap, is fabricated by electron beam lithography. The lowest current and measured pulse width for RESET operation are 115 μA and 18 ns, respectively. The measured shortest pulse width for recrystallization is 110ns, with applied pulse amplitude of 1.5 V. SET and RESET currents for line cells with different line lengths are determined. Endurance of 106 cycles with a resistance ratio of above 800 has been achieved.     

Superhydrophobicity of LaMnO3 Coatings with Hierarchical Microstructures

As proposed by Herminghaus, a hierarchical structure could render any surface nonwettable as long as the roughness amplitude at small scales is sufficient to suspend a free liquid surface. Recently we reported that the wettability of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3, an intrinsic hydrophilic oxide, can be tuned from superhydrophilicity to superhydrophobicity by hierarchical microstructures generated by annealing the coatings of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 powder in nanometric scale at different temperatures. Here we further demonstrate the similar phenomenon observed on LaMaO3 coatings, which conforms THAT the surface geometrical structure is a key factor to determine the wettability.     

A Charge-Trap Memory Device with a Composition-Modulated Zr-Silicate High-k Dielectric Multilayer Structure

We report a novel charge-trap memory device with a composition-modulated Zr-silicate high-k dielectric mul- tilayer structure prepared by using the pulsed laser deposition technique. The device employs amorphous （ZrO2）0.5（SiO2）0.5 as the tunneling and blocking oxide layers, and ZrO2 nanocrystals as the trapping storage layer. Zr02 nanocrystals are precipitated from the phase separation of （ZrO2）0.5（SiO2）0.2 films annealed at 800℃, and isolated from each other within the amorphous （ZrO2）0.5（SiO2）0.5 matrix. Our charge trapping device shows a memory window of 2.6 V and a stored electron density of 1×10^13/cm2.     

Photo-decomposition of thin palladium acetate films with 126 nm radiation

2 O₃, AlN and Si substrates produced by vacuum ultraviolet induced decomposition of palladium acetate is described. The palladium films formed and the palladium acetate layers used were characterised by using ultraviolet spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The optical transmission of the films after irradiation with pseudo-continuous 126 nm radiation generated by an excimer lamp provided information about the decomposition rate at different pressures and exposure times. The FTIR spectra recorded the chemical changes of the C=O, COO^- and CH₃ groups at different exposure times. The decomposition mechanism of the palladium acetate under these conditions appears to be quite different to that induced by pulsed laser irradiation. Received: 25 November 1996/Accepted: 1 July 1997     

Behaviour of Self-Standing CVD Diamond Film with Different Dominant Crystalline Surfaces in Thermal-Iron Plate Polishing

Self-standing CVD diamond films with different dominant crystalline surfaces are polished by the thermal-iron plate polishing method. The influence of the dominant crystalline surfaces on polishing etfficiency is investigated by measuring the removal rate and final roughness. The smallest rms roughness of 0.14 μm is measured with smallest removal rate in the films with the initial （220） dominant crystalline surface. Activation energy for the polishing is analysed by the Arrhenius relation. It is found that the values are 170kJ/mol, 222kJ/mol and 214kJ/mol for the film with three different dominant crystalline surfaces. Based on these values, the polishing cause is regarded as the graphitization-controlling process. In the experiment, we find that transformation of the dominant crystalline surfaces from （111） to （220） always appears in the polishing process when we polish the （111） dominant surface.     

Dynamic ablation studies of sub-micron gratings on metals with sub-picosecond time resolution

Received: 27 July 1998/Accepted: 28 July 1998     

Formation of highly organised,periodic microstructures on steel surfaces upon pulsed laser irradiation

We present results on the growth of highly organised, reproducible, periodic microstructure arrays on a stainless steel substrate using multi-pulsed Nd:YAG (wavelength of 1064 nm, pulse duration of 7 ns, repetition rate of 25 kHz, beam quality factor of M ²∼1.5) laser irradiation in standard atmospheric environment (room temperature and normal pressure) with laser spot diameter of the target being ∼50 μm. The target surface was irradiated at laser fluence of ∼2.2 J/cm² and intensity of ∼0.31×10⁹ W/cm², resulting in the controllable generation of arrays of microstructures with average periods ranging from ∼30 to ∼70 μm, depending on the hatching overlap between the consecutive scans. The received tips of the structures were either below or at the level of the original substrate surface, depending on the experimental conditions. The peculiarity of our work is on the utilised approach for scanning the laser beam over the surface. A possible mechanism for the formation of the structures is proposed.     

Phonon thermal conductance of disordered graphene strips with armchair edges

Based on the model of lattice dynamics together with the transfer matrix technique, we investigate the thermal conductances of phonons in quasi-one-dimensional disordered graphene strips with armchair edges using Landauer formalism for thermal transport. It is found that the contributions to thermal conductance from the phonon transport near von Hove singularities is significantly suppressed by the presence of disorder, on the contrary to the effect of disorder on phonon modes in other frequency regions. Besides the magnitude, for different widths of the strips, the thermal conductance also shows different temperature dependence. At low temperatures, the thermal conductance displays quantized features of both pure and disordered graphene strips implying that the transmission of phonon modes at low frequencies are almost unaffected by the disorder.     

Switching Characteristics of Phase Change Memory Cell Integrated with Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor

A Ge2Sb2Te5 based phase change memory device cell integrated with metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor （MOSFET） is fabricated using standard 0.18 #m complementary metM-oxide semiconductor process technology. It shows steady switching characteristics in the dc current-voltage measurement. The phase changing phenomenon from crystalline state to amorphous state with a voltage pulse altitude of 2.0 V and pulse width of 50ns is also obtained. These results show the feasibility of integrating phase change memory cell with MOSFET.     

Phase transformation during surface ablation of cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide with pulsed UV laser

Surface ablation of cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide hard metal has been carried out in this work using a 308 nm, 20 ns XeCl excimer laser. Surface microphotography and XRD, as well as an electron probe have been used to investigate the transformation of phase and microstructure as a function of the pulse-number of laser shots at a laser fluence of 2.5 J/cm². The experimental results show that the microstructure of cemented tungsten carbide is transformed from the original polygonal grains of size 3 μm to interlaced large, long grains with an increase in the number of laser shots up to 300, and finally to gross grains of size 10 μm with clear grain boundaries after 700 shots of laser irradiation. The crystalline structure of the irradiated area is partly transformed from the original WC to βWC_1-x, then to αW₂C and CW₃, and finally to W crystal. It is suggested that the undulating ‘hill–valley’ morphology may be the result of selective removal of cobalt binder from the surface layer of the hard metal. The formation of non-stoichiometric tungsten carbide may result from the escape of elemental carbon due to accumulated heating of the surface by pulsed laser irradiation. Received: 13 July 2000 / Accepted: 27 October 2000 / Published online: 10 January 2001     

Properties of Seamless W Sub-Micro Electrode Used for Phase Change Memory

In order to improve the reliability of C-RAM devices, a seamless sub-micro W heating electrode in diameter 260 nm is fabricated with standard 0.18 μm CMOS processing line. Then we successfully manufacture a chalcogenide random access memory device using this seamless sub-micro W heating electrode. The results show good electrical performance, e.g. the reset current of 1.3mA and the set/reset cycle up to 10^9 have been achieved.