Etching of buried photoresist layers and its application to the formation of three-dimensional layered structures

The fabrication of three-dimensional layered structures with 180-nm-thick TaO_x top layers supported by 1.5-μm-thick Mo pillars formed on a glass substrate is presented. The photoresist used for planarization was successfully removed through the TaO_x layers using heat treatment at 270 °C with mixed vapors of ethyl alcohol and pure water at high pressure for 3 h. Vacancies underlying the TaO_x layers were consequently formed. The possibility of rapid and lateral crystallization of amorphous silicon films was demonstrated when the silicon films formed on the TaO_x overlaying the vacancy regions were irradiated using a frequency-doubled YAG laser at 250 mJ/cm². Energy sensors using Cr/Al metal wires, with a high sensitivity of 0.07 mW/cm², were also demonstrated using the present structure with vacancy regions for reduction of heat diffusion. Received: 22 January 2001 / Accepted: 24 January 2001 / Published online: 27 June 2001     

On the cleaning of monocrystalline metallic samples from impurities

The problem of sample cleaning is essential for all the scientists using ultra-high vacuum (UHV) techniques. The paper explores the issue of how the real structure of the monocrystalline sample affects its cleaning procedure. The mosaic structure of a monocrystalline sample should be taken into account in the interpretation of segregation and adsorption phenomena studies carried out under UHV conditions. Some examples of the cleaning of an Fe(1 1 1) sample from sulphur and carbon impurities are presented in the paper. Cleaning may result in obtaining two different states: clean surface and clean defects or clean surface but filled defects. According to these studies, the number of adsorption sites in the defects equals approximately 50% of the number of adsorption sites on the surface.     

Ion beam smoothing of indium-containing III-V compound semiconductors

2 has been used for smoothing of rough InAs, InP, and InSb surfaces, prepared by argon ion beam etching (IBE). The evolution of the surface roughness and morphology has been studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) as a function of the N₂ RIBE process parameters (ion beam energy, ion beam angle of incidence, and ion dose). A drastic improvement of the surface roughness has been observed for ion beam angles near normal incidence and larger than 70° with increasing ion doses. By using this technique, the initial root-mean-square (rms) roughness of, e.g., InSb of about 40 nm could be decreased to about 1 nm. Received: 20 March 1998/Accepted: 24 March 1998     

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for on-line control of laser cleaning of sandstone and stained glass

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was used to control the cleaning process of polluted sandstone and medieval stained glass. A combination of a KrF Excimer and LIBS was used to clean areas of the artwork. The spectroscopic study of the plasma emission was used to determine the elemental composition of the crust and the underlying material. The on-line implementation of the spectroscopic technique LIBS to the cleaning process provides important information about the optimal cleaning parameters of artworks from glass and stone in order to avoid over-cleaning. Received: 26 January 1999 / Accepted: 22 April 1999 / Published online: 7 July 1999     

Excimer laser surface treatment of aluminum alloy in nitrogen

The excimer laser nitriding process reported is developed to enhance the mechanical and chemical properties of aluminum alloys. An excimer laser beam is focused onto the alloy surface in a cell containing 1-bar nitrogen gas. A vapor plasma expands from the surface and a shock wave dissociates and ionizes nitrogen. It is assumed that nitrogen from plasma in contact with the surface penetrates to some depth. Thus it is necessary to work with a sufficient laser fluence to create the plasma, but this fluence must be limited to prevent laser-induced surface roughness. The nitrogen-concentration profiles are determined from Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Crystalline quality is evidenced by an X-ray diffraction technique. Transmission electron microscopy gives the in-depth microstructure. Fretting coefficient measurements exhibit a lowering for some experimental conditions. The polycrystalline nitride layer obtained is several micrometers thick and composed of a pure AlN (columnar microstructure) top layer (200–500 nm thick) standing on an AlN (grains) in alloy diffusion layer. From the heat conduction equation calculation it is shown that a 308-nm laser wavelength would be better to increase the nitride thickness, as it corresponds to a weaker reflectance R value for aluminum. Received: 17 October 2000 / Accepted: 19 October 2000 / Published online: 23 May 2001     

Modification of surface properties of polypropylene (PP) film using DC glow discharge air plasma

The industrial use of polypropylene (PP) films is limited because of undesirable properties such as poor adhesion and printability. In the present study, a DC glow discharge plasma has been used to improve the surface properties of PP films and make it useful for technical applications. The change in hydrophilicity of modified PP film surface was investigated by contact angle (CA) and surface energy measurements as a function of exposure time. In addition, plasma-treated PP films have been subjected to an ageing process to determine the durability of the plasma treatment. Changes in morphological and chemical composition of PP films were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The improvement in adhesion was studied by measuring T-peel and lap shear strength. The results show that the surface hydrophilicity has been improved due to the increase in the roughness and the introduction of oxygen-containing polar groups. The AFM observation on PP film shows that the roughness of the surface increased due to plasma treatment. Analysis of chemical binding states and surface chemical composition by XPS showed an increase in the formation of polar functional groups and the concentration of oxygen content on the plasma-processed PP film surfaces. T-peel and lap shear test for adhesion strength measurement showed that the adhesion strength of the plasma-modified PP films increased compared with untreated films surface.     

Etching of mercuric iodide in cation iodide solutions

The surface properties of mercuric iodide after etching in various cation iodide solutions have been investigated in terms of dissolution rate, morphology, electrical properties and reaction with water vapour. No significant differences have been observed in the etching rates. However, dissolution of HgI₂ in NH₄I, NaI, KI or RbI leaves the surface more or less covered with a residual iodo mercurate compound whose electrical properties and stability with regard to humidity may noticeably influence the behaviour of mercuric iodide devices. The smallest effect has been observed for etching in NaI.     

Angular laser cleaning for effective removal of particles. from a solid surface

Laser removal of small particles from a metal surface is carried out by changing the incident angle of the laser beam. It has been found that a dramatic improvement of cleaning efficiency in terms of area and energy is observed when using the laser at glancing angle of incidence as compared to perpendicular. Furthermore substrate damage is greatly reduced and probably eliminated at glancing angles. The process mechanism is discussed by considering the adhesion and the laser-induced cleaning forces for different incident angles. It is shown that there are different laser–matter interactions operating. Received: 25 April 2000 / Accepted: 9 May 2000 / Published online: 5 October 2000     

Influence of surface cleaning effects on properties of Schottky diodes on 4H-SiC

Ir/4H-SiC and IrO₂/4H-SiC Schottky diodes are reported in terms of different methods of surface pretreatment before contact deposition. In order to find the effect of surface preparation processes on Schottky characteristics the SiC wafers were respectively cleaned using the following processes: (1) RCA method followed by buffered HF dip. Next, the surface was oxidized (5.5 nm oxide) using a rapid thermal processing reactor chamber and circular geometry windows were opened in the oxide layer before metallization deposition; (2) the same as sequence (1) but with an additional in situ sputter etching step before metallization deposition; (3) cleaning in organic solvents followed by buffered HF dip. The I-V characteristics of Schottky diodes were analyzed to find a correlation between extracted parameters and surface treatment. The best results were obtained for the sequence (1) taking into account theoretical value of Schottky barrier height. The contacts showed excellent Schottky behavior with ideality factors below 1.08 and barrier heights of 1.46 eV and 1.64 eV for Ir and IrO₂, respectively. Very promising results were obtained for samples prepared using the sequence (2) taking into account the total static power losses because the modified surface preparation results in a decrease in the forward voltage drop and reverse leakage current simultaneously. The contacts with ideality factor below 1.09 and barrier height of 1.02 eV were fabricated for Ir/4H-SiC diodes in sequence (2).     

Influence of activated carbon surface acidity on adsorption of heavy metal ions and aromatics from aqueous solution

Adsorption of toxic heavy metal ions and aromatic compounds onto activated carbons of various amount of surface C-O complexes were examined to study the optimum surface conditions for adsorption in aqueous phase. Cadmium(II) and zinc(II) were used as heavy metal ions, and phenol and nitrobenzene as aromatic compounds, respectively. Activated carbon was de-ashed followed by oxidation with nitric acid, and then it was stepwise out-gassed in helium flow up to 1273 K to gradually remove C-O complexes introduced by the oxidation. The oxidized activated carbon exhibited superior adsorption for heavy metal ions but poor performance for aromatic compounds. Both heavy metal ions and aromatics can be removed to much extent by the out-gassed activated carbon at 1273 K. Removing C-O complexes, the adsorption mechanisms would be switched from ion exchange to Cπ-cation interaction for the heavy metals adsorption, and from some kind of oxygen-aromatics interaction to π-π dispersion for the aromatics.     

ZnO Nanorods Produced by the Method of Arc Discharge

ZnO nanorods are fabricated by arc discharge with ZnO powder as source materials. The sample is characterized by x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering spectra, scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The ZnO nanorods exhibit single crystals with the hexagonal wurtzite structure. Many of them are tetrapod-like. The diameters range from several nanometres to about lOOnm, and the main diameters of the nanorods is around 20nm. The length-to-diameter ratio is more than 5, and the grown directions are along the [001] axis. Photoluminescence spectra show a narrow ultraviolet emission at around 389nm and a broad green emission at around 520 nm. The growth process can be interpreted by the vapour-solid mechanism.     

Measurement of rotational temperature in CO2 waveguide laser medium

A small-signal gain in CO₂ waveguide laser medium has been measured on rotational-vibrational transitions in the P-branch of the (0, 0, 1)-(0, 2⁰, 0) band. It has been found that the rotational temperature is well defined in the waveguide laser system where high excitation power is injected and a large amount of energy is flowing through vibrational, rotational, and translational degrees of freedom. The rotational temperature is slightly higher than the translational temperature.     

The role of atomic hydrogen in pre-epitaxial silicon substrate cleaning

The cleaning of silicon (Si) surfaces is a very important issue for the fabrication of novel semiconductor devices on the nanoscale. Established methods for the removal of organic impurities and the native or chemical oxide are often combined with high temperature desorption steps. However, devices with small feature sizes will be unfunctional if, for example, out-diffusion of dopants is not prevented. In this paper we present two possible processes for low-temperature cleaning: an atomic hydrogen source, based on dissociative adsorption of hydrogen at a heated tantalum (Ta) surface and a hydrogen DC plasma source as a part of an UHV cluster tool. The influence of atomic hydrogen on carbon and oxide removal is surveyed and the existing model for native oxide etching with an argon/hydrogen DC plasma is adapted.     

Simulation of SET Operation in Phase-Change Random Access Memories with Heater Addition and Ring-Type Contactor for Low-Power Consumption by Finite Element Modeling

A three-dimensional finite element model for phase change random access memory （PCRAM） is established for comprehensive electrical and thermal analysis during SET operation. The SET behaviours of the heater addition structure （HS） and the ring-type contact in bottom electrode （RIB） structure are compared with each other. There are two ways to reduce the RESET current, applying a high resistivity interracial layer and building a new device structure. The simulation resuIts indicate that the variation of SET current with different power reduction ways is little. This study takes the RESET and SET operation current into consideration, showing that the RIB structure PCRAM cell is suitable for future devices with high heat efficiency and high-density, due to its high heat efficiency in RESET operation.     

Heat Conductivity of One-Dimensional Carbon Chain in an External Potential

The heat transport m a one-dimensional （ID） carbon nanowire （CNW） lying in an external potential with different amplitudes and periods is studied by the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics method. It is found that the thermal conductivity of CNW is always anomalous, increasing with the CNW length and obeying the power law k- N, in which a decreases with the increasing external potential amplitude. The thermal conductivity could be enhanced by the external potential with rather larger amplitudes, which means that an applied external potential could be an efficient tool to improve the heat conductivity of a real 1D material In addition, the effect of different periods of the external potential is studied, finding the external potential with an incommensurate period leads to the smaller a value.     

Surface cleaning of metal wire by atmospheric pressure plasma

In this study, the possible application of atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma for the annealing of metallic wire is examined and presented. The main purpose of the current study is to examine the surface cleaning effect for a cylindrical object by atmospheric pressure plasma. The experimental setup consists of a gas tank, plasma reactor, and power supply with control panel. The gas assists in the generation of plasma. Copper wire was used as an experimental cylindrical object. This copper wire was irradiated with the plasma, and the cleaning effect was confirmed. The result showed that it is possible to remove the tarnish which exists on the copper wire surface. The experiment reveals that atmospheric pressure plasma is usable for the surface cleaning of metal wire. However, it is necessary to examine the method for preventing oxidization of the copper wire.     

Effect of diffusion layers and defect layer on acoustic phonons transport through the structure consisting of different films

By using the continuum elastic approximation model and the transfer matrix method, we investigate the effect of diffusion layers and defect layer on acoustic phonons transport through the structure consisting of different films. Our work show that most acoustic phonons can easily pass the structure, but some only have much less transmission probabilities and form corresponding dips in the transmission spectrum. With the change of the structure parameters such as the width of diffusion layers and defect layer, the number of unit cell and the density of containing Al in diffusion layers and defect layer, the magnitude of the frequencies of acoustic phonons corresponding to the dips almost remain unchanged, but the transmission coefficients corresponding to the dips change at different degree, and the transmission probabilities of some frequencies are very sensitive to the variation of the above-mentioned structure parameters. These results can provide some references in controlling the transmission coefficients of acoustic phonons, devising parts of acoustic apparatus and theoretical investigation related.     

Surface modification of a polyamide 6 film by He/CF4 plasma using atmospheric pressure plasma jet

Polyamide 6 (PA 6) films are treated with helium(He)/CF₄ plasma at atmospheric pressure. The samples are treated at different treatment times. The surface modification of the PA 6 films is evaluated by water contact angle, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The etching rate is used to study the etching effect of He/CF₄ plasma on the PA 6 films. The T-peel strengths of the control and plasma treated films are measured to show the surface adhesion properties of the films. As the treatment time increases, the etching rate decreases steadily, the contact angle decreases initially and then increases, while the T-peel strength increases first and then decreases. AFM analyses show that the surface roughness increases after the plasma treatment. XPS analyses reveal substantial incorporation of fluorine and/or oxygen atoms to the polymer chains on the film surfaces.     

Effect of ion impinging on the microstructure and field emission of carbon nanotubes

Effects of ion impinging on the microstructure and field electron emission properties of screen-printed carbon nanotube films were investigated. We observed that the plasma treatment modified the microstructure of CNTs along with the remarkable increase of emission site density. With the prolongation of ion impinging time, the emission current falls down first, and then rises up to higher than that of the untreated films. It is proposed that the change of emission characteristics is due to the different emission mechanisms. After the treatment, electrons are emitted predominantly from the nano-nodes on the tube wall instead from the nanotube tips.     

Calculation of three-dimensional thermal-gradient-induced stress birefringence in slab lasers

The thermal-gradient-induced stress birefringence and depolarization losses were reported previously for a Yb:YAG slab in which the plane-strain approximation applied. In this paper we present analyses of these phenomena applying a full three-dimensional treatment of deposited pump power and cooling in a Yb:YAG slab. We treat both straight-through and zigzag propagation and the cases of the slab length along the crystalline [1 1 1] and [1 1 0] axes. We also describe the losses in a slab with undoped Brewster ends and pump edges.