AVS2010 Session EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP: Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Focus Topic Poster Session

Thursday, October 21, 2010 6:00 PM in Room Southwest Exhibit Hall

Thursday Evening

Time Period ThP Sessions | Topic EL Sessions | Time Periods | Topics | AVS2010 Schedule

EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-1 Temperature Dependence of the Dielectric Function of AlSb Measured by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry
Jae Jin Yoon, Yong Woo Jung, Jun Seok Byun, Soon Yong Hwang, Young Dong Kim (Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea); Sang Hoon Shin, Su Youn Kim, Jin Dong Song (Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea)
AlSb is a promising material for applications in heterostructure devices such as long-wavelength detectors, quantum-well lasers, and laser diodes. However, to understand and properly design these devices, information about its electronic properties and its dielectric function ε = ε1 + 2 is needed. While room-temperature ε data for AlSb exist, very little information is available about its behavior at elevated temperatures. Here, we report pseudodielectric function data <ε> from 300 to 800 K and from 0.7 to 5.0 eV, determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. The samples were 1.5 μm thick layers grown on GaAs (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This thickness significantly exceeds the critical value for AlSb, so the layers are fully relaxed. The MBE station features an integrated spectroscopic ellipsometer and strain-free windows, thereby allowing e data to be obtained without exposing the samples to air. For AlSb this is critical, because the removal of its oxides is not feasible owing to its reactivity. As a result of these precautions and the method by which these <ε> data were obtained, we consider them to be the most accurate representation of ε to date. We also analyzed these data for critical-point (CP) parameters by fitting numerically calculated second energy derivatives of to standard analytic CP lineshape expressions. A parametric model was used, which describes dielectric functions by a combination of energy-bounded polynomials and poles, and encodes information in terms of amplitudes, critical-point energies, and broadening parameters. The reconstructed spectra are in excellent agreement with the data. We use these parameters to obtain information about the individual oscillators, including phonon effects, and interpolate them to obtain an analytic representation of the dielectric response of AlSb as a function of temperature. We expect these results to be an important database supporting engineering design, device technologies, and in-situ monitoring and control of device fabrication.
EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-2 Optical Properties and Humidity Effects on Thin Films of Micro Fibrillated Cellulose Studied by Spectroscopic Ellipsometry
Hans Arwin, Eduardo Antunez de Mayolo (Linköping University, Sweden); Mohamed Eita (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden); Hjalmar Granberg (Innventia Ab, Sweden); Lars Wågberg (Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden)

High quality micro fibrillated cellulose (MFC) prepared from wood fibers can be used to prepare thin films on solid substrates by a layer-by-layer deposition technique. In applications MFC layers can be used alone or as a constituent in functional coatings, where the MFC can make a significant contribution to mechanical properties of the coating. Examples of potential applications are sensor layers, decorative coatings or mirrors. Here the optical properties in terms of the refractive index of MFC are studied with in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and the effects on thickness and index due to humidity are investigated.

Films of MFC and polyethyleneimine (PEI ) in the thickness range 30 - 300 nm are deposited on silicon substrates. Such MFC/PEI samples are exposed to water vapor in nitrogen (0-90% RH) and the ellipsometric response are measured in situ in the spectral range 245 – 1700 nm at an angle of incidence of 70 degrees using a dual-rotating compensator ellipsometer. From the SE-data the MFC/PEI film thickness and layer index are modeled.

Due to water exposure, the thickness of an MFC/PEI film is found to increase up to 15% or more, whereas the refractive index decreases. The effects are fully reversible and the dynamics of these changes are monitored with SE and are discussed.

EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-3 Spectroscopic Ellipsometry and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of La2O3 Thin Films Deposited by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering
V. Atuchin (Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russia); A. Kalinkin (Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Russia); V.A. Kochubey, V.N. Kruchinin (Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russia); Rama S. Vemuri, C.V. Ramana (University of Texas at El Paso)
Lanthanum trioxide (La2O3) is one among the most promising high-k dielectric materials to replace SiO2 and Si3N4 in advanced metal-oxide-semiconductor devices in gate stack. La2O3 can be prepared by various techniques but the film properties are strongly dependent on the fabrication conditions. Reactive magnetron sputtering deposition is widely used for the preparation of high quality transition multivalent metal oxide films with reproducible parameters and controlled thickness. The technique is preferred since it usually offers a high deposition rate for oxide films and a possibility to control the chemical composition of the film by reactive atmosphere in vacuum chamber. The aim of the present study is to understand the surface structure and evaluate the optical parameters of La2O3 films deposited on Si substrates by magnetron sputtering. La2O3 thin films were deposited onto Si(100) substrates in an argon/oxygen atmosphere using a high purity La target (99.9%). Structural parameters of the films were estimated by reflective high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) method at electron energy of 50 keV. All the films show no diffraction pattern indicating their amorphous nature in the near surface layers. Chemical state examined by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), SPECS device, monochromatic Al Ka radiation (1486.6 eV) before and after Ar+ (2.5 keV, 2 min) sputtering indicates the stoichiometric film formation. Chemical nature of the species was identified with using binding energy (BE) difference parameter DLa = BE (La 3d5/2) - BE (O 1s) [1]. Optical parameters of the films were measured with spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) using a Spectroscan ellipsometer in the spectral range of 250 nm < l < 1100 nm at the incidence angle of 70°. The La2O3 films with thickness 500-850 nm were transparent over the spectral range and dispersion relations of refractive index n were well derived using a model of (air)/(single homogeneous layer)/(Si substrate). The curves n(l) were approximated by Caushy polynomials. Good relation between experimental points and theoretical curves confirms applicability of this simple model for the films. The optical parameters of La2O3 defined with SE are related to film bulk and are insensitive to top surface effects induced by hydration or carbonate formation. These parameters will be used as a basis for SE evaluation of nanometric lanthanum oxide films with thickness below 10 nm.
 
1.V.V. Atuchin, T.A. Gavrilova, J.-C. Grivel, V.G. Kesler, Electronic structure of layered ferroelectric high-k titanate La2Ti2O7, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 42 (2009) 035305.
 
 
EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-4 Analysis of Anomalous Film Growth when Yttrium Oxide Thin Films are Exposed to 7.2eV Light
Devon Mortensen, David D. Allred (Brigham Young University)

We have recently found that exposure of reactively sputtered yttrium oxide thin films to 7.2 eV photons in air produces a dramatic (factor of 4) increase in the films’ thickness. This result was completely unexpected, Y2O3 is exceptional stable, and demanded further investigation. This is particularly important since yttria and neighboring metal oxides such as ZrO2 have been considered, and HfO2 is being used, as components in gate oxides for silicon devices. The excimer lamp used for the study was of the type used in cleaning the surfaces of silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry. It is vital to understand how metal oxides might swell during cleaning.

We have experimentally observed the following:

1. The film-thickness increase is linear with exposure time up to a point.

2. Over a factor of four increase in film thicknesses, as measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry, has been observed. E.g., film which was about 20 nm thick as deposited reached a thickness of about 100nm.

3. When the yttrium oxide sample is placed in a furnace the changes rendered to the yttrium oxide sample are reversed.

4. A film placed in a plasma cleaner does not show this increase.

5. These effects are noticeably absent under the same conditions for a silicon wafer.

6. The refractive index of the film decreased with exposure time, suggesting the film could becoming more porous, though effective media optical models were unsuccessful in modeling the optical properties.

In addition to ellipsometry the films were studied by XPS and STEM.

EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-5 In-Situ Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of Lithium Ion Intercalation in GLAD Three-Dimensional Nanostructured Thin Films
Eric Montgomery, Mathias Schubert, Eva B. Schubert, Tino Hofmann, Daniel Schmidt (University of Nebraska - Lincoln); Alan May (University of Texas at Austin)
Lithium intercalation in thin nanostructured and bulk films from metals and semiconductors has been studied using in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry. Nanostructured thin films have a large surface area, and the stress caused by the intercalation of lithium is reduced in comparison to continuous films. The films are deposited using electron beam evaporation at a glancing angle or Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD).

The charge capacity of the films can be observed as a change of index of refraction using ellipsometry. We will study intercalation as a function of structure geometry in chiral and achiral 3D GLAD thin films deposited from different metals onto silicon and other dielectric substrates. We report the anisotropic dielectric functions of the 3D nanostructures and their changes as a function of intercalation time and period.

EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP-6 Multi Phase Model Generation of Reflection Anisotropy Spectra of Copper Phthalocyanine Films on Vicinal Silicon Substrates
Falko Seidel, Li Ding, Ovidiu Gordan, Dietrich Zahn (Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany)
In this work the in-plane anisotropy of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films grown on vicinal silicon substrates is explained by simulating Reflection Anisotropy Spectroscopy (RAS). In RAS the complex difference in reflection along two perpendicular directions is measured at an incidence angle close to 0°. While RAS has strong similarities with another polarisation related measurement technique, Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE), simulations of RA spectra using a similar mathematical formalism like in SE is not common.
One difference is that in SE the measurements are usually performed at an incidence angle close to the Brewster angle, where the difference between s and p reflected polarisation is maximal. However due to the similarities between the two techniques the evaluation of RA spectra can be performed in a similar way like for SE after some simple mathematical transformations. This in particularly useful when thickness induced interference can lead to incorrect interpretations of RA spectra. Therefore in this work we show that the RA spectra evaluation of CuPc layer with increasing thickness is mainly given by the optical interference effect and not by a change in the optical anisotropy of the film.
Time Period ThP Sessions | Topic EL Sessions | Time Periods | Topics | AVS2010 Schedule