Effect of low-energy ion bombardment on the crystal structure and superconductivity of niobium films

The effect of ion bombardment on the growth of Nb films and their crystal structure is investigated. Epitaxial niobium films with the (001) orientation are grown on (01i2) Al₂O₃ substrates heated to 600°C and biased at ?20 V. Niobium films with pronounced axial texture in the [110] direction are grown on water-cooled Sitall (devitrified glass such as Pyroceram) substrates. In Nb films biased at ?50 V, which are in the superconducting state, the motion of individual magnetic vortices is observed with a magnetooptic indicator.     

The deformation of thin aluminium films under helium ion bombardment

ABSTRACT : Aluminium films 2000 Å thick have been bombarded with various flu-ences of 5 keV He⁺ ions and the resulting bubble distribution observed by Transmission Electron Microscopy. Scanning Electron Microscopy of the films indicates an areal increase in the unsupported regions of the films, which, if it results from three dimensional swelling of the films, is two orders of magnitude larger than would be calculated from the total bubble volume as observed by T. E. M. In addition features closely resembling blisters observed in bulk materials, form on the supported regions of the film. These blisters like features are thought to result from lateral stresses in the films.     

Stability of subatomic carbon films on metal surfaces against low-energy gas ion bombardment

The earlier developed original experimental technique for measuring and analyzing the parameters of low-frequency fluctuations of the field-emission current in metal film systems is used to measure the sputtering yield Y _f of carbon films (with a coverage Θ ranging from 1 to 4) applied on Fe, Nb, Ta, and U substrates. The value of Y _f is calculated by an expression derived within a theoretical model developed. The sputtering ratios were measured for the case when the carbon films are sputtered by H⁺ and He⁺ ions with an energy E _i between 2 and 10 keV. With Θ fixed, the energy dependences of Y _f are obtained for each of the ions. In addition, for each of the ions, the Θ dependences of Y _f are found for several values of E _i. In all the cases, the measured values of Y _f far exceed those for pure carbon. With another original technique that combines field-ion microscopy (FIM) and precise measurement of current and/or luminous properties of local regions in FIM images, the energy thresholds E _th of sputtering carbon films applied on the metal surfaces are found. The energy distributions of Y _f in the near-threshold energy range for various Θ are obtained.     

Submonolayer films on a Si(111) surface under low-energy ion bombardment

The kinetics of deposition for monomolecular submonolayer films on a Si(111) surface is studied via low-energy electron diffraction with measurements of the intensities of diffraction reflection and the elastic background. The degree of structural perfection in growing films is estimated for alkali-metal silicides and silicon from low-energy beams. The optimum energy and dose intervals of silicide film formation are determined.     

Resistance changes in thin metallic films under ion bombardment

Resistance changes in thin films of copper, aluminium and bismuth have been studied under the bombardment of nitrogen, carbon and argon ions. Variations in resistance with implantation dose have been observed upto doses of ∼ 3 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm² for ion energies in the range 40 to 120 keV. The results are discussed in terms of desorption of gases from the film and a composite action of sputter removal of the film and its structural changes upon ion bombardment. A simple theoretical model is discussed which can qualitatively explain the experimental observations.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of defect formation in an aluminum crystal under low-energy ion bombardment

Atomic collision cascades initiated by Ar and Xe ions (with energies of 25, 40, and 50 eV) normally incident on the Al(100) crystal surface at a crystal temperature of 300 K have been simulated by the molecular dynamics technique. The formation of vacancies and radiation-adsorbed and interstitial atoms in a cascade is discussed. It is demonstrated that the numbers of surface and bulk vacancies formed in cascades under bombardment of the Al(100) surface by Xe ions reach two maxima within 0.2–0.3 and 0.7–1.0 ps after the cascade initiation, whereas the number of vacancies generated under bombardment by Ar ions reaches one maximum within 0.2–0.3 ps after the cascade initiation.     

Room temperature deposition of amorphous SiC thin films using low energy ion bombardment

Silicon carbide (SiC) films are prepared by single- and dual-ion beam sputtering deposition at room temperature, respectively. An assisting argon ion beam (ion energy Ei=150 eV) bombards directly the substrate surface to modify the SiC film surface. The thin films are characterized by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and the Raman spectra. With assisting ion beam bombardment, the density of the Si–C bond in the film increases. Meanwhile, the excess carbon or the size of the sp² bonded clusters and the amorphous Si (a-Si) phase decrease. These results indicate that the composition of the films is mainly Si–C bond. UV-vis transmission shows that the E_opt increases steadily from 1.85 eV for the amorphous SiC (a-SiC) films without bombardment to about 2.29 eV for those with assisting ion beam bombardment.     

Optimum packing density and crystal structure of tin-doped indium oxide thin films for high-temperature annealing processes

The influence of high-temperature annealing on the electrical properties and microstructure of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films was investigated as a function of oxygen gas flow ratio to argon gas during the sputtering deposition. The ITO thin films were annealed at 500 °C in air after the deposition. It was found that the ITO thin films, which were deposited in relatively low oxygen gas flow ratio, exhibited high Hall mobility and low-resistivity after the annealing. Furthermore, the X-ray reflectivity and diffraction measurement revealed that the ITO thin film with low-resistivity after annealing exhibited high packing density, smooth surface and low crystallization degree. It can be considered that the carrier electron scattering was suppressed with increasing in the packing density of the ITO thin film; as a result, the Hall mobility and resistivity were improved.     

Ion-induced densification of pvd films—a choice of the optimum density of ion bombardment

The densification process by ion-assisted physical vapour deposition of films is considered as a consequence of rearrangement of atoms in the near-surface film layer. A model is proposed allowing the quantitative estimate of the optimum ion current density required to produce a film with maximum density.     

Electronic properties of silicon-nitride films deposited by low-energy ion-beam bombardment

Ultrathin silicon-nitride films have been synthesized on silicon substrates by low-energy nitrogen-ionbeam bombardment. The thicknesses of the obtained films are found to increase slightly with the duration of bombardment. Capacitance-voltage and current-voltage characteristics of silicon-nitride films prepared at different bombarding times show that the density of damages, charges in the films and interface states, the capacitance of the obtained ultrathin silicon-nitride films, the flat-band capacitance and the flat-band voltage increase with the duration of the bombarding process. The results of these analyses suggest a short bombarding processing for such a silicon-nitridation technique proposed here.     

Room-temperature deposition of transparent conductive Al-doped ZnO thin films using low energy ion bombardment

Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films are prepared on quartz substrates by dual-ion-beam sputtering deposition at room temperature (∼25°C). An assisting argon ion beam (ion energy E _i =0–300 eV) directly bombards the substrate surface to modify the properties of AZO films. The effects of assisted-ion beam energy on the characteristics of AZO films were investigated in terms of X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectra, Hall measurement and optical transmittance. With increasing assisting-ion beam bombardment, AZO films have a strong improved crystalline quality and increased radiation damage such as oxygen vacancies and zinc interstitials. The lowest resistivity of 4.9×10⁻³Ω cm and highest transmittance of above 85% in the visible region were obtained under the assisting-ion beam energy 200 eV. It was found that the bandgap of AZO films increased from 3.37 to 3.59 eV when the assisting-ion beam energy increased from 0 to 300 eV.     

The effect of C60 cluster ion beam bombardment in sputter depth profiling of organic-inorganic hybrid multiple thin films

The effects of C₆₀ cluster ion beam bombardment in sputter depth profiling of inorganic-organic hybrid multiple nm thin films were studied. The dependence of SIMS depth profiles on sputter ion species such as 500 eV Cs⁺, 10 keV C₆₀⁺, 20 keV C₆₀²⁺ and 30 keV C₆₀³⁺ was investigated to study the effect of cluster ion bombardment on depth resolution, sputtering yield, damage accumulation, and sampling depth.     

Study of ion bombardment effect for Alq3 films

This paper investigated the blue shift of photoluminescence and the changes of surface morphology of Alq₃ films by ionic argon plasma bombardment. Plasma with different conditions was applied to bombard thin Alq₃ films, modifying both the physical and chemical properties of the films. After characterizing Alq₃ films treated with different RF power by XPS, PL and AFM, we proposed the mechanisms to explain the absence of PL blue shift and chemical shift after the films were exposed in the air for more than 3 h. Experimental results showed that molecular structure damages would affect the bandgap of Alq₃, leading to the blue shift effect. XPS results also showed that binding energy shifts are caused by enriched oxygen covalent bonds formed inside the films after plasma treatment. Also, surface roughness improves as RF power is increased.     

Synthesis and structure of nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon films prepared by nitrogen ion bombardment

The tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films with more than 80% sp³ fraction firstly were deposited by filtered cathode vacuum arc (FCVA) technique. Then the energetic nitrogen (N) ion was used to bombard the ta-C films to fabricate nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) films. The composition and structure of the films were analyzed by visible Raman spectrum and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The result shows that the bombardment of energetic nitrogen ions can induce the formation of CN bonds, the conversion of C-C bonds to CC bonds, and the increase of size of sp² cluster. The CN bonds are made of CN bonds and C-N bonds. The content of CN bonds increases with the increment of N ion bombardment energy, but the content of C-N bonds is inversely proportional to the increment of nitrogen ion energy. In addition, C≡N bonds are not existed in the films. By the investigation of AFM (atom force microscopy), the RMS (root mean square) of surface roughness of the ta-C film is about 0.21 nm. When the bombarding energy of N ion is 1000 eV, the RMS of surface roughness of the ta-C:N film decreases from 0.21 to 0.18 nm. But along with the increment of the N ion energy ranging from 1400 to 2200 eV again, the RMS of surface roughness of the ta-C:N film increases from 0.19 to 0.33 nm.     

Investigation of oxygen adsorption on Cu(110) by low-energy ion bombardment

The interaction of molecular oxygen with a Cu(110) surface is investigated by means of low energy ion scattering (LEIS) and secondary ion emission. The position of chemisorbed oxygen relative to the matrix atoms of the Cu(110) surface could be determined using a shadow cone model, from measurements of Ne⁺ ions scattered by adsorbed oxygen atoms. The adsorbed oxygen atoms are situated 0.6 ± 0.1 Å below the midpoint between two adjacent atoms in a 〈100〉 surface row. The results of the measurements of the ion impact desorption of adsorbed oxygen suggest a dominating contribution of sputtering processes. Ion focussing effects also contributes to the oxygen desorption. The ion induced and the spontaneous oxygen adsorption processes are studied using different experimental methods. Sticking probability values obtained during ion bombardment show a strong increase due to the ion bombardment.     

The effect of crystal structure on the photoelectric properties of thin cadmium sulfide layers

The results presented are of an investigation into the photoelectric properties of polycrystalline cadmium sulfide layers obtained by thermal evaporation in vacuum. In producing the layers the substrate temperature was varied over the range 80 °–500 ° C, and in addition the layers were heated in air. It was found that the spectral distribution of the photocurrent, the absolute and relative phbtosensitivity, and the relaxation time depend to a marked extent on the substrate temperature. These differences are connected with a change in the degree of defectiveness and phase compositions of the polycrystalline cadmium sulfide layers.     

The effect of the crystal structure of the field emitter on field ion energy distributions

The field ionization probability of an atom as a function of distance from the field emitter is discussed in terms of the atomic arrangement and the electron scattering properties of the ion cores of the emitter in the immediate neighborhood of the atom to be ionized, and the electron transmission properties of the potential barrier between the emitter and that atom. This approach to field ionization calculations is somewhat similar to field ionization calculations based on low energy electron diffraction (LEED) procedure in that it takes into account electron scattering from the first few atomic layers of the emitter. It differs from LEED type calculations, because it considers the highly localized nature of the ionization near a surface atom. This localization makes the ionization probability relatively insensitive to the two-dimensional periodicity of the emitter surface. A one-dimensional calculation, in which only the potential barrier and three ion core scatterers in line with the field are considered, shows secondary structure in the predicted field ion energy distributions near the critical energy deficit, as well as the well known, primary field induced resonance peaks. The surface orientation dependence of these distributions arises naturally from this model because the secondary structure depends strongly upon the crystal parameter along a line parallel to the field. This one-dimensional calculation can be no more than an approximation to a complete calculation. It is interesting, however, that such a simple physical model, in which scattering from the image potential and only two or three ion cores is considered, rather than scattering from a complete crystal, can give prodicted field ion onergy distributions which are similar to those experimentally observed.     

Raman scattering characterization of a carbon coating after low-energy argon ion bombardment

The characteristic of Raman scattering spectra of a carbon coating, which was modified by radio frequency argon plasma, has been investigated. The argon ion bombardment causes changes in the microstructure and amount of stress in the coating. Raman scattering spectra are discussed in terms of intensity, bandwidth and wavenumber. The evolvement of Raman spectra shows the following behavior with increasing bombardment time: the intensity changes of the disordered D band, amorphous D″ band and graphite G band could be separated into several stages; low-energy argon ion bombardment over a short period can reduce the number of defects in the carbon coating, while a larger bombardment period can increase the number of defects; the widths of the D and G bands both increase, while that of the D″ band decreases; the wavenumbers of all the three bands fluctuate according to the changes in electronic configuration and amount of stress in the carbon coating.     

Near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure studies of GaN under low-energy nitrogen ion bombardment

The electronic structure of p-type GaN layers exposed to low-energy nitrogen ion bombardment was studied by near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. It was found that ion bombardment lead to the creation of states lying below the nitrogen absorption edge which posses p-symmetry. These states are attributed to nitrogen interstitials with different local topologies created during ion bombardment. Furthermore, the NEXAFS spectra also shows the development of a strong -resonance above the absorption edge with increasing incident nitrogen ion energy. This peak is attributed to the formation of molecular nitrogen at interstitial positions, arising from a build up of nitrogen ions on these sites.