Jürgen W. Gerlach

Low temperature silicon dioxide by thermal atomic layer deposition: Investigation of material properties

SiO2 is the most widely used dielectric material but its growth or deposition involves high thermal budgets or suffers from shadowing effects. The low-temperature method presented here (150 °C) for the preparation of SiO2 by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) provides perfect uniformity and surface coverage even into nanoscale pores, which may well suit recent demands in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. The ALD reaction based on 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, water, and ozone provides outstanding SiO2 quality and is free of catalysts or corrosive by-products. A variety of optical, structural, and electrical properties are investigated by means of infrared spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, capacitance-voltage and current-voltage measurements, electron spin resonance, Rutherford backscattering, elastic recoil detection analysis, atomic force microscopy, and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. Many features, such as the optical constants (n, k) and optical transm...

High-quality m-plane GaN thin films deposited on γ-LiAlO2 by ion-beam-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy

GaN(11¯00) thin films are deposited on γ-LiAlO2(100) by low-energy-ion-beam-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy. Structural properties of the epitaxial GaN films are investigated by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. X-ray diffraction measurements give evidence for a high crystalline quality far better than previously reported in literature. Cross-section transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy show an anisotropy in defect structure and surface topography parallel and perpendicular to the GaN c axis. Optical properties are examined by photoluminescence spectroscopy at various temperatures. The spectra exhibit a strong and sharp near-band-gap transition, as well as a donor-acceptor pair transition.

Thin Film Deposition Using Energetic Ions

One important recent trend in deposition technology is the continuous expansion of available processes towards higher ion assistance with the subsequent beneficial effects to film properties. Nowadays, a multitude of processes, including laser ablation and deposition, vacuum arc deposition, ion assisted deposition, high power impulse magnetron sputtering and plasma immersion ion implantation, are available. However, there are obstacles to overcome in all technologies, including line-of-sight processes, particle contaminations and low growth rates, which lead to ongoing process refinements and development of new methods. Concerning the deposited thin films, control of energetic ion bombardment leads to improved adhesion, reduced substrate temperatures, control of intrinsic stress within the films as well as adjustment of surface texture, phase formation and nanotopography. This review illustrates recent trends for both areas; plasma process and solid state surface processes.

Focused high- and low-energy ion milling for TEM specimen preparation

Abstract For atomic-resolution aberration-corrected (Cs-corrected) scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) the quality of prepared TEM specimens is of crucial importance. High-energy focused gallium ion beam milling (FIB) is widely used for the production of TEM lamella. However, the specimens after conventional FIB preparation are often still too thick. In addition, damage and amorphization of the TEM specimen surface during the milling process occur. In order to overcome these disadvantages, low-energy Ar ion milling of FIB lamellae can be applied. In this work, we focus on TEM specimen preparation of different thin films (GaN, Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , TiO 2 ) and interface structures (GaN/6H-SiC, SrTiO 3 /TiO 2 , Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 /Si) using a combination of FIB with a focused low-energy Ar ion polishing. The results show that this combination enables the routine preparation of high quality TEM lamellae with a smooth surface and uniform thickness, even at the interface region between two different materials and over a lateral range of several micrometres. The prepared lamellae exhibit less surface damage and are well suited for atomic-resolution Cs-corrected STEM/TEM imaging at medium and low accelerating voltages. These results are in a good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations performed by the Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) software.

Crystallization of Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films by nano- and femtosecond single laser pulse irradiation

The amorphous to crystalline phase transformation of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) films by UV nanosecond (ns) and femtosecond (fs) single laser pulse irradiation at the same wavelength is compared. Detailed structural information about the phase transformation is collected by x-ray diffraction and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The threshold fluences to induce crystallization are determined for both pulse lengths. A large difference between ns and fs pulse irradiation was found regarding the grain size distribution and morphology of the crystallized films. For fs single pulse irradiated GST thin films, columnar grains with a diameter of 20 to 60 nm were obtained as evidenced by cross-sectional TEM analysis. The local atomic arrangement was investigated by high-resolution Cs-corrected scanning TEM. Neither tetrahedral nor off-octahedral positions of Ge-atoms could be observed in the largely defect-free grains. A high optical reflectivity contrast (~25%) between amorphous and completely crystallized GST films was achieved by fs laser irradiation induced at fluences between 13 and 16 mJ/cm2 and by ns laser irradiation induced at fluences between 67 and 130 mJ/cm2. Finally, the fluence dependent increase of the reflectivity is discussed in terms of each photon involved into the crystallization process for ns and fs pulses, respectively.

Atomic assembly during ion-beam assisted growth: Kinetic modeling

The influence of an additional bombardment with low-energy ions during conventional molecular beam epitaxy deposition is studied. A model is proposed describing the initial growth stages during conventional molecular beam epitaxy and ion-beam assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The additional bombardment with low-energy ions leads to a transformation of the growth mode from island growth to layer-by-layer growth. In the first stages of film growth, the hyperthermal ion bombardment causes an increasing detachment of atoms from the tops of the growing islands. Based on the model, using simulation by the kinetic-equation method, the size distribution function of growing clusters is calculated. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental results obtained upon the deposition of GaN films.

Low temperature epitaxy of Ge-Sb-Te films on BaF2 (111) by pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition was employed to deposit epitaxial Ge2Sb2Te5-layers on the (111) plane of BaF2 single crystal substrates. X-ray diffraction measurements show a process temperature window for epitaxial growth between 85 °C and 295 °C. No crystalline growth is observed for lower temperatures, whereas higher temperatures lead to strong desorption of the film constituents. The films are of hexagonal structure with lattice parameters consistent with existing models. X-ray pole figure measurements reveal that the films grow with one single out-of-plane crystal orientation, but rotational twin domains are present. The out-of-plane epitaxial relationship is determined to be Ge2Sb2Te5(0001) || BaF2(111), whereas the in-plane relationship is characterized by two directions, i.e., Ge2Sb2Te5 [-12-10] || BaF2[1-10] and Ge2Sb2Te5[1-210] || BaF2[1-10]. Aberration-corrected high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to resolve the local atomic structure and confirm the hexagonal structure o...

Direct imaging of light elements by annular dark-field aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy

In this report, we show that an annular dark-field detector in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope allows the direct observation of light element columns in crystalline lattices. At specific imaging conditions, an enhancement of the intensities of light element columns in the presence of heavy element columns is observed. Experimental results are presented for imaging the nitrogen and carbon atomic columns at the GaN-SiC interface and within the GaN and SiC compounds. The crystal polarity of GaN at the interface is identified. The obtained findings are discussed and are well supported by image simulations.

Plasmonic Activity of Large-Area Gold Nanodot Arrays on Arbitrary Substrates

Highly efficient fabrication of well-ordered, embedded gold nanodot matrices using diffraction mask projection laser ablation is demonstrated. These gold nanodot arrays are ideally generated onto sapphire substrates but do also form onto AlO(x) thin films, enabling the application to arbitrary bulk substrates. Well-ordered gold dots become embedded into the Al(2)O(3) substrate during the process, thus improving their mechanical stability, chemical inertness, and technological compliance. Such substrates may be useful, for example, to enhance solar-cell efficiency by surface plasmons or as convenient, biocompatible focusing elements in nearfield optical tweezers.

Phase formation and diffusion after nitrogen PIII in molybdenum

Abstract Using nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation into Mo, the nitride phase formation and nitrogen diffusion behavior were investigated in the temperature range from 330 to 580 °C. In all cases, the formation of a new phase (beside the Mo substrate) was observed with X-ray diffraction. Good agreement of this phase with powder diffraction files of cubic Mo 2 N was found, albeit the exclusion of a slightly distorted tetragonal modification was not unequivocal due to the low signal intensity. Elastic recoil detection analysis indicated a surface nitrogen concentration of 35–40 at.%. The thickness of this surface layer was always larger than the projected range, as calculated with TRIM, and it increased with longer process time or higher temperature. In addition to this diffusion process, the formation of a deep tail of nitrogen into the bulk Mo was observed, starting near a temperature of approximately 500 °C.