Quantitative SIMS depth profiling of diffusion barrier gate-oxynitride structures in TFT-LCDs

Gate oxynitride structures of TFT-LCDs were investigated by SIMS, and successful solutions are demonstrated to overcome difficulties arising due to the charging effects of the multilayer systems, the matrix effect of the method, and the small pattern sizes of the samples. Because of the excellent reproducibility achieved by applying exponential relative sensitivity functions for quantitative analysis, minor differences in the barrier gate-oxynitride composition deposited on molybdenum capped aluminium-neodymium metallisation electrodes were determined between the centre and the edge of the TFT-LCD substrates. No differences were found for molybdenum-tungsten metallisations. Furthermore, at the edge of the glass substrates, aluminium, neodymium, and molybdenum SIMS depth profiles show an exponential trend. With TEM micrographs an inhomogeneous thickness of the molybdenum capping is revealed as the source of this effect, which influences the electrical behaviour of the device.The production process was improved after these results and the aging behaviour of TFT-LCDs was investigated in order to explain the change in control voltage occurring during the lifetime of the displays. SIMS and TEM show an enrichment of neodymium at the interface to the molybdenum layer, confirming good diffusion protection of the molybdenum barrier during accelerated aging. The reason for the shift of the control voltage was finally located by semi-quantitative depth profiling of the sodium diffusion originating from the glass substrate. Molybdenum-tungsten was a much better buffer for the highly-mobile charge carriers than aluminium-neodymium. Best results were achieved with PVD silicon oxynitride as diffusion barrier and gate insulator deposited on aluminium-neodymium metallisation layers.     

Pulsed laser deposition of non-stoichiometric silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films

Silicon nitride (SiN_x) thin films of various stoichiometries (x) were prepared on Si (100) substrates applying the Nd:YAG (=1064 nm) pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process in the shaded off-axis technique at room temperature. The specific arrangement of this technique with perpendicular target (Si) and substrate surfaces and a metallic screen in between guarantees very low particulate (droplet) deposition and, thus, excellent surface qualities. Compared to the usually used on-axis deposition technique consisting of a parallel arrangement of the target and substrate surface, the coating surface covered with particulates is about 100 times lower reaching a maximum of 0.2% on 400 nm thick films. The variation the N₂ partial pressure affects the nitrogen content and the silicon bonding structure of the films analysed by means of SIMS and XPS, respectively. As a consequence the optical properties (e.g.m refractive index) are tailorable in a wide spectral range between 250 and 1200 nm. PACS 81.15.Fg; 78.20.Ci     

Unsteady hydromagnetic rotating flow of a conducting second grade fluid

The purpose of this work is to investigate the hydromagnetic oscillatory flow of a fluid bounded by a porous plate, when the entire system rotates about an axis normal to the plate. The fluid is assumed to be non-Newtonian (second grade), incompressible and electrically conducting. The magnetic field is applied transversely to the direction of the flow. Such a flow model has great significance not only of its theoretical interest, but also for applications to geophysics and engineering. The resulting initial value problem has been solved analytically for steady and unsteady cases. The analysis of the obtained results showed that the flow field is appreciably influenced by the material parameter of the second grade fluid, the applied magnetic field, the imposed frequency, rotation and suction and blowing parameters. It is observed in a second grade fluid that a steady asymptotic hydromagnetic solution exists for blowing and resonance which is different from the hydrodynamic situation.     

Laser sintering of perovskite-oxide and metal coatings by the sol gel process

This paper presents a novel laser technique for the formation of metal Ag and perovskite-oxide La_xSr_1-xCoO₃ coatings. Metallic Ag and La_xSr_1-xCoO₃ are conductive materials with applications as resistors and as electrodes in the microelectronics area. Suitable precursors in the form of sol gels are placed on substrates and are subsequently sintered by high-power laser irradiation. The Ag precursor is an aqueous sol of nanosized particles, while for the La_0.8Sr_0.2CoO₃, a sol gel type precursor is used. Substrates (e.g., fused silica) are coated with the precursor solutions by spinning and are dried to stable solid layers. The coatings are cured and sintered to a defined pattern by means of a 3-kW CO₂ laser beam scanned over the whole substrate surface. The microstructure of the coatings was examined by the use of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, and the electrical properties were measured by the four-point resistivity method. The La_0.8Sr_0.2CoO₃ coatings had a perovskite cubic structure with a lattice constant of 0.383 nm. The resistivity of the coatings was 30 mQ cm, and the temperature dependence of the resistivity was 1.8 mQ cm/°C. Metallic Ag coatings with a thickness of 100-170 nm were obtained with a resistivity of 20 7Q cm. This new technology is promising for the growth of three-dimensional (3-D) structures and multilayers, especially because it can be introduced in industrial scale production.     

Grid-free DFT implementation of local and gradient-corrected XC functionals

Following an approach to density functional theory calculations based on the matrix representation of operators, we implemented a scheme as an alternative to traditional grid-based methods. These techniques allow integrals over exchange-correlation operators to be evaluated through matrix manipulations. Both local and gradient-corrected functionals can be treated in a similar way. After deriving all the required expressions, selected examples with various functionals are given. Received: 7 March 1998 / Accepted: 21 May 1998 / Published on line: 6 August 1998     

Hybridization of oligonucleotide-modified silver and gold nanoparticles in aqueous dispersions and on gold films

Functionalization of silver and gold nanoparticles by 12mer-thiolated homo-oligonucleotides, SA and ST (containing only adenine or thymine, respectively), and their hybridization and dehybridization in aqueous dispersions have been described. In addition, ST and SA were self-assembled onto gold films and hybridized with their complementary pairs, unlabeled or labeled by gold and silver nanoparticles. The base pairing between DNA strands and the types of oligonucleotides (adenine or thymine) attached to the nanoparticles was detected by Polarization Modulated Fourier Transform Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (PM-FTIRRAS).     

Ionic liquids from Car-Parrinello simulations, part I: liquid AlCl3

The properties of isolated AlCl3 clusters and the bulk system are investigated by means of static and dynamic electronic structure methods. We find important structural motifs with the edge connectivity dominant in a dimer and the corner connectivity dominant in a trimer. Furthermore, the trimer cluster exhibits an interesting ring structure with large cooperative effects relative to the dimer. Comparing the found structural motifs in isolated molecule calculations with the structure of the liquid allows us to determine the dominance of edge connectivity in the liquid. The size of the clusters present in the liquid indicates indeed that the dimer is the most abundant species, but there are also trimers, tetramers, and pentamers present. From the local dipole analysis both for the isolated clusters as well as for the liquid, further proof for the edge connectivity is given. However, all results point to the fact that there is also some small percentage of corner connectivity present that might be attributed to the most stable corner-connected cluster, namely the trimer. Importantly, we find that energetic considerations of isolated (static) clusters only do not represent the findings in liquid phase. Instead, a quantum cluster equilibrium approach or simulations are needed.     

Investigation of non-metallic impurities in High Speed Steel using SIMS imaging and scanning techniques

Non-metallic impurities or phases are often unintentional but important constituents in steel – they primarily influence the properties and behavior of the material by forming crystallization nuclei during the solidification process of the molten material. The kind, formation and spatial distribution of these inclusions has been investigated in this work by 2D SIMS, depth profiling and scanning SIMS. These non-metallic phases can be divided into oxides, nitrides, carbides, sulfides and gas bubbles. Probably the most important phase, the oxygenic, results from reactions of the molten bath with the ambient air and from the admixture of de-oxidation components. The investigated HSS specimen exhibits two different classes of inclusions. The first class mainly contains sulfide precipitates and differs widely from the second. The latter exhibits a spherical structure with the outer sphere combining the oxygenic precipitation and the core containing nitrides and sulfides. Due to the small size of the inclusions, they have been investigated by high resolution scanning SIMS to separate the different phases. Received: 30 July 1997 / Revised: 9 February 1998 / Accepted: 15 February 1998     

A new kinetic model for rapid granular flow

The fluid motion of an assemblage of cohesionless granules is governed by the balance laws of mass, momentum and energy and is special because due to the variability of the mean free path of the particles the density is not preserved and the particle fluctuation energy (= granular temperature) is determined together with the mean fields. Constitutive equations are postulated for the dispersive pressure, viscosity, thermal diffusivity and energy annihilation rate in terms of the mean free path length, the time of encounter between two collisions and geometric and dynamic quantities via dimensional arguments. The model defines the time of encounter to consist of the free flying time between collisions plus the contact duration. The inclusion of the latter brings in the elasticity of the particles and introduces a relaxation mechanism that explains the typical behaviour of shear and fluidized layers better than has been done by previous models.     

222RN at Bermuda and Mauna Loa: Local and distant sources

Continuous measurements of atmospheric²²²Rn were made for the past three years by the Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) at the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment site located at Tudor Hill, Bermuda and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory Mauna Loa Observatory. The²²²Rn analyzer is based on the two-filter tube method. At the Bermuda site, monthly median²²²Rn concentration range from 50 to 700 mBq m^–3, and the concentrations vary seasonally, with a maximum in the winter and a minimum in the summer. The concentrations are significantly elevated when local winds traverse the island. At MLO, monthly median²²²Rn concentrations range from 100 mBq m^–3 during the fall months to 400 mBq m^–3 during the spring months. The springtime maximum values correspond to periods of rapid transport in the free troposphere from the Asian continent, corroborated by backward air mass trajectories. The²²²Rn data are also used to help decipher local daily upslope/downslope conditions present at MLO. This study illustrates the value of atmospheric²²²Rn monitoring, when screened through the filter of local meteorology, in studying the transport of continental air to the oceans, as well as the dynamics of local meteorological effects.