Viljami Pore

Atomic layer deposition of metal tellurides and selenides using alkylsilyl compounds of tellurium and selenium.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of metal selenide and telluride thin films has been limited because of a lack of precursors that would at the same time be safe and exhibit high reactivity as required in ALD. Yet there are many important metal selenide and telluride thin film materials whose deposition by ALD might be beneficial, for example, CuInSe2 for solar cells and Ge2Sb2Te5 for phase-change random-access memories. Especially in the latter case highly conformal deposition offered by ALD is essential for high storage density. By now, ALD of germanium antimony telluride (GST) has been attempted only using plasma-assisted processes owing to the lack of appropriate tellurium precursors. In this paper we make a breakthrough in the development of new ALD precursors for tellurium and selenium. Compounds with a general formula (R3Si)2Te and (R3Si)2Se react with various metal halides forming the corresponding metal tellurides and selenides. As an example, we show that Sb2Te3, GeTe, and GST films can be deposited by ALD using (Et3Si)2Te, SbCl3, and GeCl2 x C4H8O2 compounds as precursors. All three precursors exhibit a typical saturative ALD growth behavior and GST films prepared at 90 degrees C show excellent conformality on a high aspect-ratio trench structure.

H2S modified atomic layer deposition process for photocatalytic TiO2 thin films

H2S modified TiO2 films were grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using TiCl4, H2S and water as precursors. The films were characterized by XRD, XPS, TOF-SIMS, SEM and UV-VIS spectrometry. Photocatalytic activities of the films under UV and visible light were determined by the degradation of a thin layer of stearic acid. Light induced superhydrophilicity of the films was also studied. Although the sulfur content of the films was very low, substantial modification of the film properties occurred. All the films prepared at 400 and 500 °C with H2S were photocatalytically active under visible light. Photocatalytic activity under UV irradiation of the H2S modified films was also drastically improved when proper deposition parameters were applied.

Atomic Layer Deposition of Silicon Nitride from Bis(tert-butylamino)silane and N2 Plasma

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of silicon nitride (SiNx) is deemed essential for a variety of applications in nanoelectronics, such as gate spacer layers in transistors. In this work an ALD process using bis(tert-butylamino)silane (BTBAS) and N2 plasma was developed and studied. The process exhibited a wide temperature window starting from room temperature up to 500 °C. The material properties and wet-etch rates were investigated as a function of plasma exposure time, plasma pressure, and substrate table temperature. Table temperatures of 300-500 °C yielded a high material quality and a composition close to Si3N4 was obtained at 500 °C (N/Si=1.4±0.1, mass density=2.9±0.1 g/cm3, refractive index=1.96±0.03). Low wet-etch rates of ∼1 nm/min were obtained for films deposited at table temperatures of 400 °C and higher, similar to that achieved in the literature using low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of SiNx at >700 °C. For novel applications requiring significantly lower temperatures, the temperature window from room temperature to 200 °C can be a solution, where relatively high material quality was obtained when operating at low plasma pressures or long plasma exposure times.

Characterisation of the Al2O3 films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and atomic layer deposition methods for passivation of 4H–SiC devices

Al2O3 films were deposited using atomic layer deposition (ALD) and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) methods on p- and n-type Si substrates, n-type 4H–SiC substrates and 4H–SiC diodes for passivatio ...

Ta2O5- and TiO2-based nanostructures made by atomic layer deposition.

Nanotubular Ta(2)O(5)- and TiO(2)-based structures were prepared by atomic layer deposition of Ta(2)O(5) and TiO(2) thin films, conformally on pore walls of porous alumina membranes. Both self-supporting alumina membranes and Si-supported thin-film membranes were studied as templates. Long Ta(2)O(5) and TiO(2) nanotubes were prepared successfully with the self-supporting membranes. The TiO(2) nanotubes showed photocatalytic activity in methylene blue degradation under UV illumination. The Ta(2)O(5) and TiO(2) nanotubes were further modified by depositing Pt nanoparticles inside them. The Si-supported thin-film membranes were used as templates for the preparation of robust Ta(2)O(5)-coated Ni nanorod arrays on a Si substrate using electrodeposition, chemical etching and atomic layer deposition. In addition to photocatalysis, the nanostructures prepared in this work may find applications as other catalysts and as solid-state or electrochemical capacitors.

Characterization of Aluminium and Titanium Oxides Deposited on 4H-SiC by Atomic Layer Deposition Technique

Aluminium oxide and titanium oxide films were deposited using the Atomic Layer Deposition method on n-type 4H SiC and p-type Si {001} substrates, with doping 6×1015cm-3 and 2×1016cm-3, respectively, and on 1.2 kV PiN 4H SiC diodes for passivation studies. The Al2O3 and SiC interface was characterised for the existence of an effective negative charge with a density of 1×1012-2×1012 cm-2. The dielectric constant of Al2O3 as determined from capacitance-voltage data was about 8.3. The maximum electric field supported by the Al2O3 film was up to 7.5 MV/cm and 8.4 MV/cm on SiC and Si, respectively.

Silver Coated Platinum Core–Shell Nanostructures on Etched Si Nanowires: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Processing and Application in SERS

A new method to prepare plasmonically active noble metal nanostructures on large surface area silicon nanowires (SiNWs) mediated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology has successfully been demonstrated for applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based sensing. As host material for the plasmonically active nanostructures we use dense single-crystalline SiNWs with diameters of less than 100 nm as obtained by a wet chemical etching method based on silver nitrate and hydrofluoric acid solutions. The SERS active metal nanoparticles/islands are made from silver (Ag) shells as deposited by autometallography on the core nanoislands made from platinum (Pt) that can easily be deposited by ALD in the form of nanoislands covering the SiNW surfaces in a controlled way. The density of the plasmonically inactive Pt islands as well as the thickness of noble metal Ag shell are two key factors determining the magnitude of the SERS signal enhancement and sensitivity of detection. The optimized Ag coated Pt islands on SiNWs exhibit great potential for ultrasensitive molecular sensing in terms of high SERS signal enhancement ability, good stability and reproducibility. The plasmonic activity of the core-shell Pt//Ag system that will be experimentally realized in this paper as an example was demonstrated in numerical finite element simulations as well as experimentally in Raman measurements of SERS activity of a highly diluted model dye molecule. The morphology and structure of the core-shell Pt//Ag nanoparticles on SiNW surfaces were investigated by scanning- and transmission electron microscopy. Optimized core-shell nanoparticle geometries for maximum Raman signal enhancement is discussed essentially based on the finite element modeling.

Nickel suicide for source-drain contacts from ALD NiO films

In this work, we demonstrate the preparation of nickel monosilicide (NiSi) layers on silicon using a conformal NiO ALD process and thin sacrificial Ge interlayers. The interlayers protect the underlying Si from oxidizing during the NiO growth, while allowing for Ni diffusion during a silicidation anneal. The NiSi layers prepared have low amounts of impurities and near bulk resistivities, therefore making the processes promising candidates for applications in advanced semiconductor devices where high quality NiSi layers are needed, such as source-drain contacts. Good step coverage provided by ALD enables their use for example in non-planar transistors such as FinFETs and other multi-gate transistors with complex topographies.