Anomalously deep penetration of hydrogen and deuterium in assemblies from Nb foils and deuterated polyethylene (CD<Subscript>2</Subscript>)<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript> under the pulse high temperature hydrogen plasma

Studies of the storage and redistribution of hydrogen atoms under pulse high temperature hydrogen plasma that was obtained using a PF-4 Plasma Focus facility in a multilayered structure (sandwich) which consists of two high-purity niobium foils and a deuterium polyethylene film pressed between them have been carried out using the method for elastic recoil detection (ERD). It was established that, with an increase in pulses of the PF-4 facility, the redistribution of implanted hydrogen atoms for large depths occurs in the two Nb foils and deuterated polyethylene. The depths substantially exceed the projective range of paths of hydrogen ions (at their maximum velocity of ∼10⁸ cm/s). A maximum hydrogen concentration of 45 at % is reached in the nearest surface of the second Nb foil to the PF-4 at 20 pulses of hydrogen plasma. An X-ray diffraction analysis showed the presence of a niobium hydride phase in both Nb foils. The redistribution of deuterium atoms from the bound state of deuterated polyethylene into the near-surface layer and the bulk material of the second Nb foil was detected as well. This phenomenon can be attributed to the transfer of implanted hydrogen atoms through the foil assembly and the transfer of deuterium from deuterated polyethylene into the near-surface layer of the second foil under the effect of powerful shock waves that are created by pulse hydrogen plasma and by acceleration in the diffusion of hydrogen and deuterium in the strain field induced by the shock wave.     

Decisive role of polydispersity in the relaxation spectrum of saturated hydrocarbons from plasma-induced thermoluminescence data

The method of plasma-induced thermoluminescence for the first time has been used to investigate the molecular mobility in near-surface nanolayers of molecular crystals (paraffins) with different chain lengths. The investigations have been performed using a NanoLuminograph device (PlasmaChem, GmbH, Germany) under conditions excluding the modifying effect of gas discharge plasma emission on the surface structure under study. The origin of charge stabilization sites on the surface of molecular crystals as well as the influence of the chain length of paraffins and the purity of their chemical composition on the thermoluminescence intensity and the shape of the glow curves have been discussed.     

Dry etching of zinc-oxide and indium-zinc-oxide in IBr and BI3 plasma chemistries

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 in Ar/IBr and Ar/BI₃. In both plasma chemistries, the etch rate of ZnO is very similar to that of IZO, which indicates that zinc and indium atoms are driven by a similar plasma etching dynamics. IBr and BI₃-based plasmas show no enhancement of the etch rate over pure physical sputtering under the same experimental conditions. The etched surface morphologies are smooth, independent of the discharge chemistry. From Auger electron spectroscopy, it is found that the near-surface stoichiometry is unchanged within experimental error, indicating a low degree of plasma-induced damage.     

Influence of atmospheric pressure plasma treatment time on penetration depth of surface modification into fabric

In order to determine the relationship between the treatment duration of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and the penetration depth of the surface modification into textile structures, a four-layer stack of polyester woven fabrics was exposed to helium/oxygen APPJ for different treatment durations. The water-absorption time for the top and the bottom sides of each fabric layer was reduced from 200 s to almost 0 s. The capillary flow height for all fabric layers in the stack increased linearly with the treatment duration but the rate of increasing reduced linearly with the fabric layer number. A model for the capillary flow height as a function of treatment duration and the layer number was established based on the experimental data and the maximum penetration depth of the APPJ was predicted for the polyester fabric. The improved wettability of the fabrics was attributed to the enhanced surface roughness due to plasma etching and the surface chemical composition change due to plasma-induced chemical reaction as detected by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The surface roughness and the surface chemical composition change diminished as the fabric layer number increased.     

N2O处理对背沟刻蚀金属氧化物薄膜晶体管性能的影响

通过采用稀土元素镨掺杂铟锡锌氧化物半导体作为薄膜晶体管沟道层,成功实现了基于铝酸的湿法背沟道刻蚀薄膜晶体管的制备.研究了N₂O等离子体处理对薄膜晶体管背沟道界面的影响,对其处理功率和时间对器件性能的影响做了具体研究.结果表明,在一定的功率和时间处理下能获得良好的器件性能,所制备的器件具有良好的正向偏压热稳定性和光照条件下负向偏压热稳定性.高分辨透射电镜结果显示,该非晶结构的金属氧化物半导体材料可以有效抵抗铝酸的刻蚀,未发现明显的成分偏析现象.进一步的X射线光电能谱测试表明, N₂O等离子体处理能在界面处形成一个富氧、低载流子浓度的界面层.其一方面可以有效抵抗器件在沉积氧化硅钝化层时等离子体对背沟道的损伤;另一方面作为氢的钝化体,抑制了低能级施主态氢的产生,为低成本、高效的薄膜晶体管性能优化方式提供了重要参考.     

Radiation produced by femtosecond laser-plasma interaction during dielectric breakdown

Optical breakdown by femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses in transparent dielectrics produces an ionized region of dense plasma confined within the bulk of the material. This ionized region is responsible for broadband radiation that accompanies the breakdown process. Spectroscopic measurements of the accompanying light have been used to show that, depending on the laser parameters, the spectra may originate from plasma-induced second-harmonic generation, supercontinuum generation, or thermal emission by the plasma. By monitoring the emission from the ionized region, one can ascertain the predominant breakdown mechanism and the morphology of the damage region.     

Ultrafast electron dynamics on the silicon surface excited by an intense femtosecond laser pulse

The electron dynamics on the silicon surface during the pump ultrashort infrared laser pulse is studied by time-resolved optical microscopy and electron-emission measurements. It is found that the optical response of the material under the conditions where a dense electron-hole plasma is formed is determined by the renormalization of the band spectrum of the material rather than by intraband transitions of photoexcited carriers. Nonlinear Auger recombination in the plasma enhanced by the plasma-induced renormalization of the band gap and accompanied by the generation of hot charge carriers stimulates intense prompt emission of such carriers from the surface of the photoexcited material, whose work function decreases owing to the large plasma-induced renormalization of the energies of higher conduction bands.     

Photochemical surface modification of PET by excimer UV lamp irradiation

UV irradiation has interesting potential for the photochemical modification of polymers. In order to study cross-linking effects and/or thin-layer deposition following a treatment in the presence of bi-functional media or in inert atmosphere, irradiation of PET in various atmospheres was performed using a KrCl excimer lamp. Surface properties were investigated by atomic force microscopy, nanoindentation, micro-thermal analysis, and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy. The studies reveal that surface chemical composition, morphology, adhesion, thermomechanics, and stiffness/modulus are strongly affected by UV irradiation in the presence of bi-functional media. Films treated in octadiene and argon show an increase of surface modulus, much less expansion, and lower soft/melt temperatures, which is an indication of the surface cross-linking effect and a decrease of crystallinity within the near-surface layer. In the case of a diallylphthalate-treated film, depending on the local structure, either a strong decrease of melting temperature or no melting point is found, which is attributed to the irregular cross linking and thickness of the modified layer associated with a decrease of surface modulus. A significant increase of the alkali resistance is found after irradiation, as a result of both wetting and cross-linking effects on the polymer surface.     

Reactive epitaxy of cobalt disilicide on Si(111)

A study of the mechanism governing the initial stages in silicide formation under deposition of 1–10 monolayers of cobalt on a heated Si(111) 7×7 crystal is reported. The structural data were obtained by an original method of diffraction of inelastically scattered medium-energy electrons, which maps the atomic structure of surface layers in real space. The elemental composition of the near-surface region to be analyzed was investigated by Auger electron spectroscopy. Reactive epitaxy is shown to stimulate epitaxial growth of a B-oriented CoSi₂(111) film on Si(111). In the initial stages of cobalt deposition (1–3 monolayers), the growth proceeds through island formation. The near-surface layer of a CoSi₂(111) film about 30 Å thick does not differ in elemental composition from the bulk cobalt disilicide, and the film terminates in a Si-Co-Si monolayer triad.     

高反射率硅基薄膜一维光子晶体的研究制备

采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积的方法,研究制备了一种基于硅基薄膜的高反射一维光子晶体。通过交替改变反应气体组分实现低折射率Si Ox层和高折射率a-Si层的交替层叠沉积,具有两种膜层介质折射率比大、反射率高、沉积时间短、工艺窗口宽等优点。采用5周期的Si Ox层与a-Si层构成的一维光子晶体(厚度分别为155 nm和55 nm),其禁带范围内(650~1 100 nm)的平均反射率达到99.1%,高于相同波长范围内Ag的平均反射率(96.3%)。     

Hydrogen outgassing mechanism in titanium materials

This paper addresses a hydrogen outgassing mechanism in titanium materials with extremely low outgassing property by investigating the distribution of hydrogen atoms concentration in depth below the surface, and the activation energy for desorption of dissolved hydrogen atoms into the boundary region between the surface oxide layer and the bulk titanium and that of adsorbed hydrogen atoms on the surface. The distribution of hydrogen atoms concentration in depth below the surface was analyzed by a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). The activation energy for desorption of dissolved hydrogen atoms was estimated by the thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) measurement with various heating rates. The activation energy for desorption of adsorbed hydrogen atoms was estimated by the temperature dependence of the outgassing rate in titanium material. In the titanium material, hydrogen atoms show maximum concentration at the boundary between the surface oxide layer and the bulk titanium. Concentration of hydrogen atoms decreases rapidly at the surface oxide layer, while it decreases slowly in the deep region below the surface layer-bulk boundary by the vacuum evacuation without/with the baking process. The activation energy for desorption of 1.02 eV of dissolved hydrogen atoms into the surface layer-bulk boundary is about three times as large as that of 0.38 eV of the adsorbed hydrogen atoms on the surface. These results suggest that the hydrogen outgassing mechanism in the titanium material is composed the follows processes, i.e. the slow hydrogen atoms diffusion at the surface layer-bulk boundary, quick hydrogen atoms diffusion at the surface oxide layer and rapid desorption of adsorbed hydrogen atoms on the surface. This outgassing mechanism gives very low hydrogen concentration near the surface, which results in the extremely low outgassing rate in titanium materials.     

Plasma-assisted surface treatment for low-temperature annealed ohmic contact on AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors

In this study, a low-temperature annealed ohmic contact process was proposed on Al Ga N/Ga N heterostructure field effect transistors(HFETs) with the assistance of inductively coupled plasma(ICP) surface treatment. The effect of ICP treatment process on the 2DEG channel as well as the formation mechanism of the low annealing temperature ohmic contact was investigated. An appropriate residual Al Ga N thickness and a plasma-induced damage are considered to contribute to the low-temperature annealed ohmic contact. By using a single Al layer to replace the conventional Ti/Al stacks, ohmic contact with a contact resistance of 0.35 ?·mm was obtained when annealed at 575?C for 3 min. Good ohmic contact was also obtained by annealing at 500?C for 20 min.     

Divacancy binding energy at metal surfaces

We have calculated the binding energy using the inserted atom method for divacancies for a large number of surfaces of aluminum, nickel, copper, palladium, silver, platinum, and gold, and also in the near-surface layers. A correlation was found between the binding energies at the high-index and low-index surfaces. The transition of the calculated quantities to bulk values was tracted while successively moving the defects into the depth of the near-surface layer of the material. V. D. Kuznetsov Siberian Physicotechnical Institute at Tomsk University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 83–89, June, 1997.     

Limiting role of desorption in hydrogen transport across a deposited beryllium film

Hydrogen transport across a deposited beryllium layer has been investigated using the hydrogen permeability and concentration pulse methods. A layer of beryllium was deposited on a prepurified nickel membrane by cathode sputtering in a glow discharge plasma in “especially pure” grade hydrogen. An analysis of the experimental results showed that the main limiting process for hydrogen transport is desorption from the layer rather than diffusion in the bulk of the layer. A mathematical transport model is proposed and used to determine the rate constant of hydrogen desorption from beryllium. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 128–130 (January 1998)     

Defect profiles in graded band-gap layers of <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>-HgCdTe heteroepitaxial structures under ion-beam etching

The results of investigations into spatial distribution of donors in p-HgCdTe graded band-gap layers with various composition profiles in the near-surface layer upon ion-beam etching are reported. It is found that the depth of the resulting n⁺-layer is weakly dependent on the conditions of ion-beam etching and composition of material of the surface and is about 0.5–1 μm. The electron density in the n⁺-layer on the surface is observed to increase with time of beam etching. It is shown that the conditions of ion-beam etching and the composition of the near-surface region significantly affect only the depth of the foregoing layer with low electron density. Analysis of experimental data shows that the process of ion-bean etching in p-HgCdTe heteroepitaxial structures with a composition gradient in the near-surface region is different from etching in HgCdTe homogeneous epitaxial structures and crystals. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 51–56, September, 2008.     

Surface relaxation and thermal expansion for the (001) face of α-Fe and Cu

The surface relaxation and the near-surface enhancement of thermal expansion have been calculated for the (001) face of a bcc crystal, α-Fe, and an fcc crystal, Cu. The calculations make use of the anharmonic perturbation formalism of Dobrzynski and Maradudin; the results for certain equal-time vibrational correlation functions which arise in this formalism are also presented. The crystal potential is described in terms of several kinds of short-range empirical interatomic potentials, such as have been used in studies of defects in bulk; in the near-surface region, the effects of surface redistribution of the electron distribution are modelled by the addition of a simple surface Madelung (SSM) force. The effect of the SSM force is to limit severely the usual outward relaxation driven by short-range interatomic potentials. For Fe(001), the five and one-half percent outward static relaxation driven by the short-range potentials acting alone is changed to a one percent inward static relaxation when the SSM force is incorporated; for Cu(001), the comparable change is from a one percent outward relaxation to a one-half percent outward relaxation. On the other hand, the SSM force makes only a small effect on the surface-enhanced thermal expansion coefficients (STEC) for interplanar spacings. The STEC for the outermost spacing is between 2.5. and 3.0 times of that for the bulk at the Debye temperature for both Fe(001) and Cu(001); for the second interplanar spacing, the STEC is smaller than 1.5 times of that of the bulk at the Debye temperature. The ratios of the near-surface mean-square amplitudes (MSA) to those of the bulk at high temperatures are, for Fe(001), about 1.75 for z-components (normal to surface) and 1.55 for x-components (parallel to surface) in the surface layer; for Cu(001), about 1.95 for z-components and 1.30 for x-components. The interplanar correlation functions, while smaller than the MSA on an absolute scale, do show considerable surface-enhancement, particularly for the zz-compoments. For example, the zz-correlation between an atom in the outermost layer and its nearest neighbor in the next layer is nearly twice the comparable bulk correlation above the Debye temperature for both Fe(001) and Cu(001).     

Field emission characteristics of screen-printed carbon nanotubes cold cathode by hydrogen plasma treatment

Selective plasma etching and hydrogen plasma treatment were introduced in turn to improve field emission characteristics of screen-printed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) cold cathode, which was prepared by using slurry of mixture of multi-wall CNTs, organic vehicles and inorganic binder, i.e. silicon dioxide sol. The results show that selective plasma etching process could effectively remove parts of surface inorganic vehicle (SiO₂) layer and expose more smooth and clean CNTs on cathode surface, which could significantly decrease the operating field of CNTs cathode. There are some nanoparticles emerging on the out of CNTs wall after hydrogen plasma treatment, which are equivalent to increase field emission point of cathode. At the same time, these nanoparticles can increase the local electric field of CNTs, which can decrease operating voltage of CNTs cathode and improve uniformity field emission.     

Efficient micromachining of poly(vinylidene fluoride) using a laser-plasma EUV source

In this paper an efficient micromachining of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by direct photo-etching with a laser-plasma EUV (extreme ultraviolet) source was demonstrated for the first time. Mass spectroscopy was employed to investigate the ablation products and revealed emission of numerous molecular species of C-containing fragments of the polymer chain. Chemical surface changes after irradiation were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS spectra obtained for PVDF samples, irradiated with low and high EUV fluence, indicate significant differences between chemical structures in near-surface layers. It was shown that irradiation with low fluence results in defluorination and thus carbon enrichment of the polymer in near-surface layer. In contrary, irradiation with high fluence leads to intense material ablation and hardly modifies the chemical structure of the remaining material.     

Hydrogen neutralization of dopant in p-type Ga0.47In0.53As

Diffusion of hydrogen has been performed in a series of zinc doped GaInAs layers using a RF hydrogen plasma. In highly doped (≈10¹⁹/cm³) materials, the free hole concentration decrease is accompanied by a significant increase of the hole mobility indicating a neutralization process of acceptors. Layers doped at a level of ≈10¹⁸/cm³ turn to n-type after hydrogenation. We also show that the hydrogen solubility in this material is fixed by the free hole density rather than by the hydrogen plasma conditions.     

Hydrogen evolution during deposition of microcrystalline silicon by chemical transport

We exposed a freshly deposited boron-doped, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layer to hydrogen plasma under conditions of chemical transport. In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements revealed that atomic hydrogen impinging on the film surface behaves differently before and after crystallization. First, the plasma exposure increases hydrogen solubility in the a-Si:H network leading to the formation of a hydrogen-rich subsurface layer. Then, once the crystallization process engages, the excess hydrogen starts to leave the sample. We have attributed this unusual evolution of the excess hydrogen to the grown hydrogenated microcrystalline (μc-Si:H) layer, which gradually prevents the atomic hydrogen from the plasma reaching the μc-Si:H/a-Si:H interface. Consequently, hydrogen solubility, initially increased by the hydrogen plasma, recovers the initial value of an untreated a-Si:H material. To support the theory that the outdiffusion is a consequence and not the cause of the μc-Si:H layer growth, we solved the combined diffusion and trapping equations, which govern hydrogen diffusion into the sample, using appropriate approximations and a specific boundary condition explaining the lack of hydrogen injection during μc-Si:H layer growth.