Radial Distribution Function Analysis of the Amorphous Barrier Layer in Magnetic Spin Tunnel Junctions

Spin tunnel junctions consist of two ferrromagnetic layers separated by an amorphous insulating barrier layer which is a few nanometers thick. The barrier layer is the most critical layer in terms of magnetic transport properties and yet, of all the layers, the structure of this layer has been the least investigated, mainly due to difficulties in carrying out structural investigations of nanovolumes of amorphous materials. In this paper we demonstrate how the technique of radial distribution function analysis using electrons can be used to investigate such small volumes, by applying it to the aluminium oxide amorphous layer in a junction. The analysis results in a radial distribution function which matches those obtained by neutron and X-ray diffraction from bulk material.     

立方氮化硼薄膜生长过程中的界面控制

在立方氮化硼薄膜气相生长过程中生成的无定形初期层和乱层结构氮化硼中间层，一直是阻碍立方氮化硼薄膜外延生长的主要原因.系统地分析了硅衬底预处理对立方氮化硼薄膜中无定形初期层成分的影响，发现在等离子体化学气相生长法制备薄膜时，硅衬底上形成无定形初期层的可能原因有氧的存在、离子轰击以及高温下硅的氮化物的形成.在H₂气氛中1200K热处理硅衬底可以有效地减少真空室中残留氧浓度，除去硅表面的自然氧化层，保持硅衬底表面晶体结构.控制衬底温度不超过900 K，就能防止硅的氮化物的形成，成功地除去无 关键词： 立方氮化硼薄膜 等离子体化学气相生长 界面 电子显微镜     

Ellipsometry and the clean surfaces of silicon and germanium

The anomalous ellipsometric effects, which occur upon chemical adsorption of gases on clean silicon and germanium surfaces have been determined in the wavelength region 0.34–1.8 μm. The effects are ascribed to the removal of a transition layer with optical constants different from the crystalline bulk values. Within the scope of this model the optical constants of the transition layer proved to be similar to those of the corresponding amorphous materials. The differences in optical constants between crystalline material on the one hand and amorphous material and transition layer on the other, could be attributed to the presence of dangling or distorted bonds.     

Real-time measurement of stress and damage evolution during initial lithiation of crystalline silicon

Crystalline to amorphous phase transformation during initial lithiation in (100) Si wafers is studied in an electrochemical cell with Li metal as the counter and reference electrode. During initial lithiation, a moving phase boundary advances into the wafer starting from the surface facing the lithium electrode, transforming crystalline Si into amorphous Li(x)Si. The resulting biaxial compressive stress in the amorphous layer is measured in situ, and it was observed to be ca. 0.5 GPa. High-resolution TEM images reveal a very sharp crystalline-amorphous phase boundary, with a thickness of ～1 nm. Upon delithiation, the stress rapidly reverses and becomes tensile, and the amorphous layer begins to deform plastically at around 0.5 GPa. With continued delithiation, the yield stress increases in magnitude, culminating in a sudden fracture of the amorphous layer into microfragments, and the cracks extend into the underlying crystalline Si.     

Electron microscopic investigations of the layer, Island, and dendrite polymorphic crystallizations of amorphous films

The structural and morphological features of the crystallization of thin amorphous films, which proceeds without changes in the composition, are investigated via the transmission electron microscopy and electronography methods. It is demonstrated that classification based on several structural and morphological features is reasonable and three (layer, island, and dendrite) types of polymorphic crystallizations can be distinguished. It is shown, that layer polymorphic crystallization enables us to interpret crystallization-line motion to the amorphous phase by analogy with the propagation of a light-wave front according to the Huygens principle.     

非晶硅太阳电池BZO/p-a-SiC:H接触特性改善的研究

采用重掺杂的p型微晶硅来改善前电极掺硼氧化锌 (ZnO:B) 和窗口层p型非晶硅碳 (p-a-SiC) 之间的非欧姆接触特性. 通过优化插入层p型微晶硅的沉积参数 (氢稀释比H₂/SiH₄、硼掺杂比B₂H₆/SiH₄) 获得了较薄厚度下 (20 nm) 暗电导率高达4.2 S/cm的p型微晶硅材料. 在本征层厚度约为150 nm, 仅采用Al背反射电极的情况下,获得了效率6.37%的非晶硅顶电池(V_oc=911 mV, FF=71.7%, J_sc=9.73 mA/cm²), 开路电压V_oc和填充因子FF均较无插入层的电池有大幅提升. 关键词： 氧化锌 p型微晶硅 非晶硅顶电池 非欧姆接触     

Control of epitaxial growth at a-Si:H/c-Si heterointerface by the working pressure in PECVD

The epitaxial-Si(epi-Si) growth on the crystalline Si(c-Si) wafer could be tailored by the working pressure in plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD).It has been systematically confirmed that the epitaxial growth at the hydrogenated amorphous silicon(a-Si:H)/c-Si interface is suppressed at high pressure(hp) and occurs at low pressure(1p).The hp a-Si:H,as a purely amorphous layer,is incorporated in the 1p-epi-Si/c-Si interface.We find that:(i) the epitaxial growth can also occur at a-Si:H coated c-Si wafer as long as this amorphous layer is thin enough;(ii) with the increase of the inserted hp layer thickness,lp epi-Si at the interface is suppressed,and the fraction of a-Si:H in the thin films increases and that of c-Si decreases,corresponding to the increasing minority carrier lifetime of the sample.Not only the epitaxial results,but also the quality of the thin films at hp also surpasses that at lp,leading to the longer minority carrier lifetime of the hp sample than the lp one although they have the same amorphous phase.     

Tuning exchange coupling by replacing CoFe with amorphous CoFeB in the CoFe/Ru/CoFe synthetic antiferromagnetic structure

We studied exchange coupling in the CoFe/Ru/CoFe synthetic antiferromagnetic structure with systematical replacement of the crystalline CoFe with amorphous CoFeB. Antiferromagnetic exchange coupling intensity decreases with an increase in the replacement in the bottom magnetic layer, which indicates that exchange coupling intensity could be tuned by the replacement. The origin of weakening antiferromagnetic exchange coupling is attributed to the amorphous CoFeB replacement inducing incomplete crystallization and disordered orientation in the Ru layer.     

Effect of the amorphous thin layer on the surface growth of amorphous/crystalline binary multilayer films

The effect of the amorphous thin layer on the surface growth of amorphous/crystalline binary multilayer films has been studied by using a continuum model. It is shown that both the surface roughness and the growth exponent of amorphous/crystalline binary multilayer films decrease with increasing thickness ratio between amorphous and crystalline layers. Our simulations have also revealed, in contrast to the monotonous rise in surface roughness observed in single-layer films grown on flat substrates, the surface growth of a multilayer film consists of two processes: interface smoothing and roughening, namely the film roughness decreases during the growth of amorphous thin layers but increases monotonously during the growth of crystalline thin layers. The observed interface smoothing and roughening can be obviously influenced by the change in the thickness ratio between amorphous and crystalline layers. The rise in thickness ratio between amorphous and crystalline layers enhances the interface smoothing effect but lowers the interface roughening effect and consequently shows a marked smoothing effect on the surface roughness.     

PECVD分层结构对提高氢化非晶硅TFT迁移率的影响

为了进一步提高氢化非晶硅薄膜晶体管 (a-Si:H TFT) 的场效应电子迁移率, 研究了批量生产条件下对欧姆接触层和栅极绝缘层进行多层 制备, 不同的工艺参数对a-Si:H TFT场效应电子迁移率的影响. 研究表明随着对欧姆接触层 (n⁺层) 分层数的增加, 以及低速生长的栅极绝缘层 (GL层) 和高速生长的栅极绝缘层 (GH 层) 厚度比值提高, a-Si:H TFT的场效应迁移率得到提升. 当n⁺层分层数达到 3层, GL层和GH层厚度比值为4:11 时, 器件的场效应电子迁移率达到0.66 cm²/V·s, 比传统工艺提高了约一倍, 显著改善了a-Si:H TFT 的电学特性, 并在量产线上得到了验证. 关键词： 非晶硅薄膜晶体管 电子迁移率 欧姆接触层 栅极绝缘层     

Infrared optical properties of Li- and Xe-irradiated KTiOPO<Subscript>4</Subscript>

KTP was irradiated at 100 K and 295 K with Li ions and at 295 K with Xe ions. The infrared spectra of the Li-irradiated samples are consistent with a system consisting of a layer stack of undamaged KTP/amorphous KTP/undamaged substrate. Annealing of the samples leads to a growth of the covering layer at the expense of the amorphous layer. The damage yield of the sample irradiated at 100 K is noticeably higher, resulting in a greater thickness of the amorphous layer. The spectra show interference effects, indicating homogenous layer thicknesses. Such interference effects are absent for the Xe-irradiated samples. Spectral simulations revealed that there is no buried amorphous layer present in these samples. Instead, the latter samples consist of amorphous inclusions in undamaged crystalline KTP with a volume fraction depending on the energy dose. The spectra of the sample irradiated at an ion fluence of 3×10¹² cm^-2 are very similar to the spectrum of glassy KTP, indicating a strong structural relationship between ion-damaged amorphous KTP and glassy KTP. The dielectric function of amorphous KTP was determined and used, together with the principal dielectric functions of single-crystal KTP, to successfully simulate the spectra of a sample irradiated at an ion fluence of 2×10¹¹ cm^-2 by either the effective-medium approximation (EMA) or average-refractive-index theory (ARIT). PACS 42.70.Mp; 61.82 Ms; 78.30.-j     

Tunneling magnetoresistance on the subnanometer scale

The influence of the finite thickness and structure, amorphous or crystalline, of Fe electrodes on the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio is investigated by ab initio calculations in Fe/MgO/Fe tunnel junctions. An amorphous Fe layer in direct contact with the MgO barrier causes a low TMR ratio of only 44%. By inserting crystalline Fe monolayers between the barrier and the amorphous Fe the TMR ratio increases rapidly and reaches the same level as for semi-infinite Fe electrodes. Even one crystalline Fe monolayer is sufficient to achieve a giant TMR ratio exceeding 500%. Omitting the amorphous Fe has nearly no influence on the results if there are more than two monolayers of crystalline Fe next to the barrier. The results demonstrate that the reservoirs can even be nonmagnetic. The TMR emerges from the interplay of symmetry selection in the barrier and spin filtering at the electrode-barrier interface.     

The effect of chemical polishing on the interface structure and electrical property of Au/Cd0.9Zn0.1Te contact

The interface structures between Au electrode and Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te wafer with different surface treatments are studied by means of transmission electron microscopy. Before the preparation of the Au film, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy are employed to investigate the surface morphology and elemental concentration before and after the chemical polishing process. It is found that an amorphous layer with the thickness of approximately 5 nm exists at the interface area for the only mechanical polished samples. As the chemical polishing process goes on, the interfaces become flatter and smoother. A thinner lattice mismatch layer instead of the amorphous layer after the chemical polishing process is found between Au and Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te. The formation mechanism for the amorphous layer is considered to be the large lattice mismatch between Au and matrix. Furthermore, current–voltage (I–V) measurement is also carried out to investigate the relationship between the interface structure and electrical properties. The ohmic contact coefficient is calculated to increase from 0.4609 to 1.0904 after 4 min chemical polishing corresponding to the I–V test. It is indicated that the charges become easier to move across the interface, which has no amorphous layer, due to the weaker blocking effect to the charges for the thinner and ordered interface region.     

Anodic oxidation during electrostatic bonding

During electrostatic bonding, anodic oxidation of the anode material, for instance silicon, is thought to be the essential step in the bonding mechanism, leading to the formation of a permanent, strong and vacuum-tight bond. Despite the perceived importance of this step in the bonding mechanism of this well-established bonding technique, there is little experimental evidence for anodic oxidation during electrostatic bonding. One reason is that a thin (approximately 10–20?nm) amorphous anodic oxide layer is difficult to detect adjacent to an amorphous cation-depleted glass. Here, silicon–Pyrex and aluminium–Pyrex electrostatic bonds are made and the anodic oxidation process is studied directly using transmission electron microscopy. The consumption of silicon is demonstrated by the movement of the crystalline–amorphous interface compared with a marker under the original silicon–Pyrex interface. The formation of an anodic silica layer can also be demonstrated using electron-energy-loss spectrometry. An amorphous reaction layer 5–20?nm thick is formed during the bonding cycle. For aluminium anode materials bonded at 450°C a nanocrystalline γ-Al₂O₃ reaction layer is formed, which can be readily detected by transmission electron microscopy. At a bonding temperature of 350°C, no such crystalline reaction layer can be detected between Pyrex and aluminium.     

Effects of the amorphous layer on laser-induced subwavelength structures on carbon allotropes

By micro-Raman spectroscopy, we show that the structured surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite and diamond induced by 800 nm, 125 fs or 532 nm, 30 ps laser pulses are capped by thin amorphous carbon layers. Based on the results, we propose that for multiphoton ablation the thin amorphous layer with a reduced bandgap can facilitate surface ionization, raise free electron density, bring on plasmonic effects, and thus promote the growth of subwavelength structures. Therefore, concerning multipulse laser ablation of wide bandgap materials, we should take into account the effects of the superficial amorphous layer produced by preceding pulses instead of the intrinsic surface.     

Characteristics of the conductive polyimide film surfaces induced by ultraviolet laser beam

-1 cm^-1 stripped in a solvent from KrF-laser-irradiated polyimide thin film is taken as a sample to determine the microstructure of the conducting layer. Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies show the formation of the carbon-rich clusters after irradiation. The element analysis gives the atomic ratio of C:H:N:O for the carbon-rich cluster as 60:20:3:1. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction indicates that the conducting layer is mainly amorphous carbon with a small amount of the short-range ordered carbon-rich clusters. This study suggests a structural model with three-layer carbon sheets linked together in a random fashion for the short-range ordered carbon-rich clusters. The interplanar spacing is 3.87 Å and the layer diameter 25 Å. The transport model of variable-range hopping in three dimensions is used to explain the conducting behavior of the conducting layer. In our case, the short-range ordered carbon-rich clusters are assumed to be conducting islands dispersed in the amorphous carbon-rich cluster matrix. Received: 26 May 1997/Accepted: 8 September 1997     

Laser formed amorphous Fe-based alloy

the amorphous layers were obtained using the method of CW CO_2 laser scanning Fe-based alloy surface. The function of structure of Fe-based alloy, scanning speed, cooling method etc. for laser-formed amorphous state were discussed. A much thick amorphous layer can be made by laser scanning.     

The amount and location of amorphous component in polyethylene single crystals

Polyethylene single crystals from dilute solutions usually have a density ρ which is less than that of the ideal crystal lattice (ρ_c = 1.000 g/cm³). This density defect can be formally assigned to an “amorphous” component (1-α) = (ρ_c-ρ)/(ρ_c-ρa) and may be caused by vacancies in the crystal lattice and/or by the surface disorder connected with chain folds. The two-phase concept of single crystal structure assumes a very nearly ideal lattice core and two amorphous layers on the fold-containing surfaces. It is supported by density and heat content data of annealed samples, by small-angle X-ray scattering, by wide-line NMR investigations, and by the results of fuming nitric acid treatment.

The maximum thickness of the amorphous surface layer as a function of temperature may be estimated from the free energy requirement of such a layer. With regular chain folds one has a high concentration of gauche conformations yielding a high surface energy. The need for such a concentration disappears in the amorphous layer with loose loops. This gain in energy may be spent for surface melting. Still more important is the gain in entropy caused by the random distribution of loop lengths.     

用椭圆偏光法研究硅中砷离子注入的损伤和退火效应

我们用椭圆偏光法对As⁺离子注入Si的损伤和退火效应进行了测量。对As⁺注入能量为150keV、注入剂量为10¹⁶cm^-2的情况,测得的折射率分布呈现平台型,表明出现了非晶质层。在600—700℃间有一转变温度,高于此温度退火,可消除非晶质层。实验结果表明椭圆偏光法亦是测定辐射损伤的有用工具。 关键词：     

Effect of interface structure on deformation behavior of crystalline Cu/amorphous CuZr sandwich structures

The effect of interface types (namely, sharp interface and graded interface) and its thickness on the deformation behavior of crystalline/amorphous/crystalline sandwich structures (CACSSs) under tensile loading are studied using molecular dynamics simulation. Compared with the CACSSs with sharp interface, the CACSSs with gradient interface consistently exhibit good plasticity when the interface thickness is larger than 6 nm, due to the coupling effects among crystalline layer, amorphous layer and crystalline–amorphous interface. With the increase of interface thickness, the plastic deformation mechanism of CACSSs with gradient interface changes from the local plastic deformation in amorphous layer to the homogeneous plastic deformation.