Comparison of CH4/H2 and C2H6/H2 inductively coupled plasma etching of ZnO

CH₄/H₂-based discharges are attractive for dry etching of single crystal ZnO because of their non-corrosive nature. We show that substitution of C₂H₆ for CH₄ increases the ZnO etch rate by approximately a factor of 2 both with and without any inert gas additive. The C₂H₆/H₂/Ar mixture provides a strong enhancement over pure Ar sputtering, in sharp contrast to the case of CH₄/H₂/Ar. The threshold ion energy for initiating etching is 42.4 eV for C₂H₆/H₂/Ar and 59.8 eV for CH₄/H₂/Ar. The etched surface morphologies were smooth, independent of the chemistry and the Zn/O ratio in the near-surface region was unchanged within experimental error after etching with both chemistries. The plasma etching improved the band-edge photoluminescence intensity and suppressed the deep level emission from the bulk ZnO under our conditions, due possibly to removal of surface contamination layer.     

Dry etching of bulk single-crystal ZnO in CH4/H2-based plasma chemistries

The effect of inert gas additive (He, Ar, Xe) to CH₄/H₂ discharges for dry etching of single crystal ZnO was examined. The etch rates were higher with Ar or Xe addition, compared to He but in all cases the CH₄/H₂-based mixtures showed little or no enhancement over pure physical sputtering under the same conditions. The etched surface morphologies were smooth, independent of the inert gas additive species and the Zn/O ratio in the near-surface region decreases as the mass number of the additive species increases, suggesting preferential sputtering of O. The plasma etching improved the band-edge photoluminescence intensity from the ZnO for the range of ion energies used here (290-355 eV), due possibly to removal of surface contamination layer.     

High-density plasma etching of indium-zinc oxide films in Ar/Cl2 and Ar/CH4/H2 chemistries

The dry etching characteristics of transparent and conductive indium-zinc oxide (IZO) films have been investigated using an inductively coupled high-density plasma. While the Cl₂-based plasma mixture showed little enhancement over physical sputtering in a pure argon atmosphere, the CH₄/H₂/Ar chemistry produced an increase of the IZO etch rate. On the other hand, the surface morphology of IZO films after etching in Ar and Ar/Cl₂ discharges is smooth, whereas that after etching in CH₄/H₂/Ar presents particle-like features resulting from the preferential desorption of In- and O-containing products. Etching in CH₄/H₂/Ar also produces formation of a Zn-rich surface layer, whose thickness (∼40 nm) is well-above the expected range of incident ions in the material (∼1 nm). Such alteration of the IZO layer after etching in CH₄/H₂/Ar plasmas is expected to have a significant impact on the transparent electrode properties in optoelectronic device fabrication.     

Effect of H2 and O2 plasma etching treatment on the surface of diamond-like carbon thin film

In this study, we investigated the surface properties of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films for biomedical applications through plasma etching treatment using oxygen (O₂) and hydrogen (H₂) gas. The synthesis and post-plasma etching treatment of DLC films were carried out by 13.56 MHz RF plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. In order to characterize the surface of DLC films, they were etched to a thickness of approximately 100 nm and were compared with an as-deposited DLC film. We obtained the optimum condition through power variation, at which the etching rate by H₂ and O₂ was 30 and 80 nm/min, respectively. The structural and chemical properties of these thin films after the plasma etching treatment were evaluated by Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. In the case of as-deposited and H₂ plasma etching-treated DLC film, the contact angle was 86.4° and 83.7°, respectively, whereas it was reduced to 35.5° in the etching-treated DLC film in O₂ plasma. The surface roughness of plasma etching-treated DLC with H₂ or O₂ was maintained smooth at 0.1 nm. These results indicated that the surface of the etching-treated DLC film in O₂ plasma was hydrophilic as well as smooth.     

CH4或CH4+Ar介质阻挡放电中的离子能量和类金刚石膜制备

实验上，利用纯CH₄及CH₄+Ar在几百帕量级气压下的介质阻挡放电 制备类金刚石膜，研究了气压p与放电间隙d乘积(pd值)以及Ar的体积百分比R_Ar 对膜硬度的影响.理论上，从离子与气体分子的双体碰撞出发，利用较高折合电场强度E/n( 电场强度与粒子数密度之比)下离子及中性粒子速度分布的双温模型、离子在其他气体中运 动时遵守的朗之万方程及离子在混合气体中运动时遵守的布兰克法则，对CH⁺4和Ar⁺离子能量进行了分析.结果表明：1)CH₄介质阻挡 放电中，pd值由1.862×10³Pa mm降低至2.66×10²Pa mm时，CH+₄能量由5.4eV增加到163eV，类金刚石膜硬度由2.1GPa提高到17.6GPa ; 2) 保持总气压p=100Pa,放电间距d=5mm不变，在CH₄中加入Ar气，当R_Ar 由20％增加至83%时，CH⁺₄的能量由69eV增加到92eV,而Ar＋能量由93eV降低至72eV.虽然CH⁺₄能量增加有助于提高 沉积膜硬度，但当R_Ar大于67%，高强度Ar⁺轰击会导致膜表面石墨 化，膜硬度降低.为了验证离子能量理论模型的正确性，实验测量了H₂介质阻挡 放电中离子能量，测量结果与理论计算之间最大相对误差为16%. 关键词： 离子能量 介质阻挡放电 类金刚石膜     

The influence of H2/(H2 + Ar) ratio on microstructure and optoelectronic properties of microcrystalline silicon films deposited by plasma-enhanced CVD

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films were deposited by glow discharge decomposition of SiH₄ diluted in mixed gas of Ar and H₂. By investigating the dependence of the film crystallinity on the flow rates of Ar and H₂, we showed that the addition of Ar in diluted gas markedly improves the crystallinity due to an enhanced dissociation of SiH₄. The infrared-absorption spectrum reveals that the fraction of SiH bonding increases with increasing the rate ratio of H₂/(H₂ + Ar). The surface roughness of the films increases with increasing the flow rate ratio of H₂/(H₂ + Ar), which is attributed to the decrease of massive bombardment of Ar ions in the plasma. Refractive index and absorption coefficient of the films were obtained by simulating the optical transmission spectra using a modified envelope method. Electrical measurements of the films show that the dark conductivity increases and the activation energy decreases with the ratio of H₂/(H₂ + Ar). A reasonable explanation is presented for the dependence of the microstructure and optoelectronic properties on the flow rate ratio of H₂/(H₂ + Ar).     

H2对Ar稀释SiH4等离子体CVD制备多晶硅薄膜的影响

以SiH₄，Ar和H₂为反应气体，采用射频等离子体化学气相沉积方法在300℃下制备了低温多晶Si薄膜.实验发现，反应气体中H₂的比例是影响薄膜结晶质量的重要因素，在适量的H₂比例下制备的多晶Si薄膜具有结晶相体积分数高，氢含量低，生长速率快、抗杂质污染等特性. 关键词： 低温多晶Si薄膜 等离子体CVD 4')" href="#">Ar稀释SiH₄ 2比例')" href="#">H₂比例     

GROWTH MODEL OF TEXTURED DIAMOND (111) FILM IN CH4/O2/H2 ATMOSPHERE

Partially oriented and highly textured diamond films on Si( 111 ) substrates were achieved by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition(HFCVD). High nucleation density greater than 5×10⁸cm^-2 was realiged in 3 min by near-surface glow discharge. The os-grown films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that by adding a small amount of oxygen to the mixture of CH₄/H₂, the appearance of facet(111) was well controlled, and the secondary nucleation on the facet(111) was suppressed greatly. Growth feature of homoepitaxy on diamond (111) surface was demonstrated to be in Stranski-Krastanov model by SEM.     

Direct-inelastic and trapping-desorption scattering of N2 and CH4 from Pt(111)

Angle and velocity distributions for supersonic chopped beams of N₂ and CH₄ scattered from clean close-packed Pt(111) surfaces are reported. For specular direct-inelastic scattering N₂ and CH₄ velocity distributions can be characterized by empirical relationships used for Ar scattering. For instance, for specular scattering the following relation is found for Ar, N₂ and CH₄: 〈KE_f〉 = A(KE_i) + B(2kT_s), where 〈KE_f〉 is the average final kinetic energy, KE_i is the incident kinetic energy and T_s is the surface temperature. The beam and surface temperature independent coefficients A and B are, respectively: Ar 0.87, 0.17; N₂ 0.79, 0.19 and CH₄ 0.84, 0.25. Unlike Ar, N₂ desorbs from Pt with a Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution near the surface temperature. Qualitatively the trapping probabilities for these molecules on Pt(111) are ordered: Xe > N₂ > CH₄> Ar.     

Oxidation of H2/CO2 mixtures and effect of hydrogen initial concentration on the combustion of CH4 and CH4/CO2 mixtures: Experiments and modeling

An experimental investigation of the oxidation of hydrogen diluted by nitrogen in presence of CO₂ was performed in a fused silica jet-stirred reactor (JSR) over the temperature range 800-1050 K, from fuel-lean to fuel-rich conditions and at atmospheric pressure. The mean residence time was kept constant in the experiments: 120 ms at 1 atm and 250 ms at 10 atm. The effect of variable initial concentrations of hydrogen on the combustion of methane and methane/carbon dioxide mixtures diluted by nitrogen was also experimentally studied. Concentration profiles for O₂, H₂, H₂O, CO, CO₂, CH₂O, CH₄, C₂H₆, C₂H₄, and C₂H₂ were measured by sonic probe sampling followed by chemical analyses (FT-IR, gas chromatography). A detailed chemical kinetic modeling of the present experiments and of the literature data (flame speed and ignition delays) was performed using a recently proposed kinetic scheme showing good agreement between the data and this modeling, and providing further validation of the kinetic model (128 species and 924 reversible reactions). Sensitivity and reaction paths analyses were used to delineate the important reactions influencing the kinetic of oxidation of the fuels in absence and in presence of additives (CO₂ and H₂). The kinetic reaction scheme proposed helps understanding the inhibiting effect of CO₂ on the oxidation of hydrogen and methane and should be useful for gas turbine modeling.     

Comparison of plasma chemistries for the dry etching of bulk single-crystal zinc-oxide and rf-sputtered indium-zinc-oxide films

The dry etching characteristics of bulk, single-crystal zinc-oxide (ZnO) and rf-sputtered indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) films have been investigated using an inductively coupled high-density plasma with different plasma chemistries. The introduction of interhalogens such as ICl, IBr, BI₃, and BBr₃ to the Ar plasma produced no enhancement of the ZnO and IZO etch rates with respect to physical sputtering in a pure argon atmosphere under the same experimental conditions. In these plasma chemistries, the etch rate of both materials increased with source power and ion energy, indicating that ion bombardment plays an important role in enhancing desorption of etch products. Except in Ar/CH₄/H₂ discharges, the ZnO etch rate was very similar to that of IZO, which indicates that zinc and indium atoms are driven by a similar plasma etching dynamic. CH₄/H₂-containing plasmas produced higher etch rates for IZO than for ZnO due to the preferential desorption of the group III etch products. Application of the CH₄/H₂/Ar plasma to the etching of deep features in bulk, single-crystal ZnO produced highly anisotropic profiles although some trenches were observed near the sidewalls.     

K-shell excitation of CH4, NH3, H2O,CH3OH,CH3OCH3 and CH3NH2 by 2.5 keV electron impact

The regions around the respective carbon, nitrogen and oxygen K-edges of CH₄, NH₃, H₂O, CH₃OH, CH₃OCH₃ and CH₃NH₂ have been investigated by electron energy loss spectroscopy using a beam of 2.5 keV electrons. All spectra show a number of discrete peaks just below the K-shell ionization threshold. These discrete structures have been interpreted as being associated with the promotion of a K-shell electron to Rydberg orbitals which converge to the K-shell ionization threshold.     

Absolute Raman intensities of CH4, CH3D,CH2D2, CHD3, and CD4

Measurements of the absolute vibrational Raman intensities and depolarization ratios for the fundamental and some overtone and combination bands of CH₄, CH₃D, CH₂D₂, CHD₃, and CD₄ are reported. Experimental aspects of these measurements are discussed. The experimental data conform satisfactorily to all isotope intensity sum rules. The measured intensities and depolarization ratios, together with the vibrational potential function for CH₄, make possible the calculation of the four independent parameters of the isotopic invariant quantities $\text{α}{}^{\mathrm{S}}\text{= |}\text{?α}\text{?S}\text{|}$. The results deduced from these agree with all 36 experimentally observed values. Values of electro-optical parameters for the CH bond are calculated and discussed.     

CF_4/Ar/O_2等离子体对熔石英元件的修饰工艺

采用感应耦合等离子体刻蚀技术,以CF4/Ar/O2为反应气体对熔石英元件表面进行修饰,研究并分析了CF4和Ar流量对刻蚀速率、熔石英表面粗糙度和微观形貌的影响。结果表明,CF4化学刻蚀与Ar的物理轰击对熔石英样品表面修饰效果存在一定竞争关系,当它们达到平衡时表面粗糙度最小。通过对不同流量气体刻蚀过后熔石英表面粗糙度和光学显微形貌分析获得了较为理想的气流量配比,该研究为反应等离子体修饰熔石英光学元件以获得较高光学性能提供工艺参考。     

CF4/Ar/O2等离子体对熔石英元件的修饰工艺

采用感应耦合等离子体刻蚀技术,以CF4/Ar/O2为反应气体对熔石英元件表面进行修饰,研究并分析了CF4和Ar流量对刻蚀速率、熔石英表面粗糙度和微观形貌的影响。结果表明,CF4化学刻蚀与Ar的物理轰击对熔石英样品表面修饰效果存在一定竞争关系,当它们达到平衡时表面粗糙度最小。通过对不同流量气体刻蚀过后熔石英表面粗糙度和光学显微形貌分析获得了较为理想的气流量配比,该研究为反应等离子体修饰熔石英光学元件以获得较高光学性能提供工艺参考。     

Effects of N2 addition on nanocrystalline diamond films by HFCVD in Ar/CH4 gas mixture

Nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films were grown on silicon substrates by hot filament chemical vapor deposition in Ar/N₂/CH₄ gas mixtures. The effects of seeding process prior to deposition, the total gas pressure, and concentration of nitrogen on the grain size, morphology and bonding nature in HFCVD technique were investigated. The results indicated that a low total gas pressure is favorable for nanosized diamond crystallites. Films micrograph obtained from scanning electron microscopy showed diamond nanograins elongated with the addition of nitrogen in the plasma. Crystal structure investigations were carried out by X-ray diffraction measurements for deposited films. An increase in the size of crystallite is also observed from XRD measurements in NCD film when nitrogen was added in plasma. From Raman spectra, it was observed that the relative intensity of G peak increases indicating more graphite content after nitrogen added in the plasma. The effects of the nitrogen incorporation in nanocrystalline films in HFCVD are discussed.     

Dry etching of MgCaO gate dielectric and passivation layers on GaN

MgCaO films grown by rf plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy and capped with Sc₂O₃ are promising candidates as surface passivation layers and gate dielectrics on GaN-based high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and metal-oxide semiconductor HEMTs (MOS-HEMTs), respectively. Two different plasma chemistries were examined for etching these thin films on GaN. Inductively coupled plasmas of CH₄/H₂/Ar produced etch rates only in the range 20-70 Å/min, comparable to the Ar sputter rates under the same conditions. Similarly slow MgCaO etch rates (∼100 Å/min) were obtained with Cl₂/Ar discharges under the same conditions, but GaN showed rates almost an order of magnitude higher. The MgCaO removal rates are limited by the low volatilities of the respective etch products. The CH₄/H₂/Ar plasma chemistry produced a selectivity of around 2 for etching the MgCaO with respect to GaN.     

Homogeneous ignition of CH4/air and H2O and CO2-diluted CH4/O2 mixtures over Pt; an experimental and numerical investigation at pressures up to 16 bar

The homogeneous ignition of CH₄/air, CH₄/O₂/H₂O/N₂, and CH₄/O₂/CO₂/N₂ mixtures over platinum was investigated experimentally and numerically at pressures 4 bar p 16 bar, temperatures 1120 K T 1420 K, and fuel-to-oxygen equivalence ratios 0.30 0.40. Experiments have been performed in an optically accessible catalytic channel-flow reactor and included planar laser induced fluorescence (LIF) of the OH radical for the determination of homogeneous (gas-phase) ignition and one-dimensional Raman measurements of major species concentrations across the reactor boundary layer for the assessment of the heterogeneous (catalytic) processes preceding homogeneous ignition. Numerical predictions were carried out with a 2D elliptic CFD code that included elementary heterogeneous and homogeneous chemical reaction schemes and detailed transport. The employed heterogeneous reaction scheme accurately captured the catalytic methane conversion upstream of the gaseous combustion zone. Two well-known gas-phase reaction mechanisms were tested for their capacity to reproduce measured homogeneous ignition characteristics. There were substantial differences in the performance of the two schemes, which were ascribed to their ability to correctly capture the p–T– parameter range of the self-inhibited ignition behavior of methane. Comparisons between measured and predicted homogeneous ignition distances have led to the validation of a gaseous reaction scheme at 6 bar p 16 bar, a pressure range of particular interest to gas-turbine catalytically stabilized combustion (CST) applications. The presence of heterogeneously produced water chemically promoted the onset of homogeneous ignition. Experiments and predictions with CH₄/O₂/H₂O/N₂ mixtures containing 57% per volume H₂O have shown that the validated gaseous scheme was able to capture the chemical impact of water in the induction zone. Experiments with CO₂ addition (30% per volume) were in good agreement with the numerical simulations and have indicated that CO₂ had only a minor chemical impact on homogeneous ignition.     

Investigation of structural and magnetic properties of Ni, NiFe and NiFe2O4 thin films

Soft magnetic thin films of Ni, NiFe and NiFe₂O₄ were prepared using reactive magnetron sputtering in various deposition conditions. Experimentally observed soft magnetic property was compared and correlated with nanocrystalline structure evolution. Ni and NiFe deposited films are textured with fcc(111) phase preferred orientation. Accordingly, grain size and lattice parameter were calculated from X-ray diffraction (111) peak line width and 2θ peak position. Addition of reactive gas oxygen in deposition process has substantial effect on crystalline structure of film. There is phase transition from the ordered NiFe (111) structure to the NiFe₂O₄ nanocrystalline phase. The resulting film has shown small X-ray diffraction intensity peak corresponding to (311) and (400) orientation, indicating small amount of existing NiFe₂O₄ phase. The mechanism has been discussed to be responsible for nanocrystallization and amorphization of NiFe₂O₄ films. Magnetic measurement (M-H) loop reveal soft magnetic nature of films with magnetic anisotropy. The coercivity (H_c) of films is in accordance with random anisotropy model, where H_c reduced with grain size. The structural transformation was supported by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy measurement. The films are highly smooth with surface roughness in the range of ∼0.53-0.93 nm. NiFe₂O₄ films have shown lowest surface roughness with highest electrical resistivity values. The structural, surface, magnetic and infrared spectroscopy results are observed and analyzed.     

H+5团簇离子及其中性团簇产物H3和H4

报道了H⁺₅的实验结果.分析讨论了H⁺₅的 形成和分解途径.根据理论分析，以稳定的H⁺₃为核心与一个或多个氢分子结合可能形成稳定的H^{+_n氢团簇离子.另一方面，在高频离子源中, 有发生H+₃与H₂反应的条件.实 验中，从高频离子源引出的离子束被静电加速器加速，然后用9 关键词： +}₅团簇离子')" href="#">H⁺₅团簇离子 3中性团簇')" href="#">H₃中性团簇 4中性团簇')" href="#">H_{4中性团簇}