David A. Mantell

An in Situ Study of Chemical Vapor Deposition of Triisobutylaluminum on SI (100)

There are many examples of problems with nucleation that cause poor film morphology. In such cases, the initial nucleation of the film is slow, but subsequent growth is fast. Inhomogenities in the initiation of growth across the surface become magnified and uneven film growth can extend to a macroscopic scale. One system that exhibits this behavior is chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of triisobutylaluminum (TIBA) on silicon1,2. This problem with nucleation or this “nucleation barrier” can be overcome by pretreating the surface before CVD1,2. It also can be exploited to enable patterned CVD. By exposing the adsorbed TIBA to UV lasers it is possible to write3,4 or project5 a pattern onto the silicon that will nucleate film growth. A film grows only in the laser exposed regions at a temperature slightly below the temperature necessary to nucleate the film CVD across the whole surface.