| 1. |
- Eklund, Per, et al.
(author)
-
Structural, electrical, and mechanical properties of nc-TiC/a-SiC nanocomposite thin films
- 2005
-
In: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B. - : American Vacuum Society. - 1071-1023 .- 1520-8567. ; 23:6, s. 2486-2495
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have synthesized Ti–Si–C nanocomposite thin films by dc magnetron sputtering from a Ti3SiC2 compound target in an Ar discharge on Si(100), Al2O3(0001), and Al substrates at temperatures from room temperature to 300 °C. Electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the films consisted of nanocrystalline (nc-) TiC and amorphous (a-) SiC, with the possible presence of a small amount of noncarbidic C. The growth mode was columnar, yielding a nodular film-surface morphology. Mechanically, the films exhibited a remarkable ductile behavior. Their nanoindentation hardness and E-modulus values were 20 and 290 GPa, respectively. The electrical resistivity was 330 µ cm for optimal Ar pressure (4 mTorr) and substrate temperature (300 °C). The resulting nc-TiC/a-SiC films performed well as electrical contact material. These films' electrical-contact resistance against Ag was remarkably low, 6 µ at a contact force of 800 N compared to 3.2 µ for Ag against Ag. The chemical stability of the nc-TiC/a-SiC films was excellent, as shown by a Battelle flowing mixed corrosive-gas test, with no N, Cl, or S contaminants entering the bulk of the films.
|
|
| 2. |
- Alami, Jones, et al.
(author)
-
Ion-assisted Physical Vapor Deposition for enhanced film properties on non-flat surfaces
- 2005
-
In: Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. A. Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films. - : American Vacuum Society. - 0734-2101 .- 1520-8559. ; 23:2, s. 278-280
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We have synthesized Ta thin films on Si substrates placed along a wall of a 2-cm-deep and 1-cm-wide trench, using both a mostly neutral Ta flux by conventional dc magnetron sputtering (dcMS) and a mostly ionized Ta flux by high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HPPMS). Structure of the grown films was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The Ta thin film grown by HPPMS has a smooth surface and a dense crystalline structure with grains oriented perpendicular to the substrate surface, whereas the film grown by dcMS exhibits a rough surface, pores between the grains, and an inclined columnar structure. The improved homogeneity achieved by HPPMS is a direct consequence of the high ion fraction of sputtered species.
|
|
| 3. |
- Beckers, Manfred, et al.
(author)
-
The influence of substrate temperature and Al mobility on the microstructural evolution of magnetron sputtered ternary Ti-Al-N thin films
- 2009
-
In: Journal of Applied Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-8979 .- 1089-7550. ; 106:6, s. 064915-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ternary Ti-Al-N films were deposited onto Al2O3 (0001) substrates by reactive co‑sputtering from elemental Ti and Al targets and analyzed by in situ and ex situ x-ray scattering, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The deposition parameters were set to values that yield Ti:Al:N ratios of 2:1:1 and 4:1:3 at room temperature. 2TiAlN depositions at 675 °C result in epitaxial Ti2AlN growth with basal planes parallel to the substrate surface. Nominal 4TiAl3N depositions at 675 °C and above, however, yield TiN and Ti2AlN domains due to Al loss to the vacuum. Depositions at a lower temperature of 600 °C yield films with correct 4:1:3 stoichiometry, but Ti4AlN3 formation is supposedly prevented by insufficient adatom mobility. Instead, an incoherent Tin+1AlNn structure with random twinned stacking sequences n is obtained, that exhibits both basal plane orientations parallel as well as nearly perpendicular to the substrate interface. X‑ray photoemission spectroscopy shows that in contrast to stoichiometric nitrides the Al is metallically bonded and hence acts as twinning plane within the Tin+1AlNn stackings. Domains with perpendicular basal plane orientation overgrowth those with parallel ones in a competitive growth mode. The resulting morphology is a combination of smooth‑surfaced parallel basal plane orientation domains interrupted by repeated facetted hillock-like features with perpendicular basal plane orientation.
|
|
| 4. |
- Ghafoor, Naureen, et al.
(author)
-
Effects of ion-assisted growth on the layer definition in Cr/Sc multilayers
- 2008
-
In: Thin Solid Films. - : Institutionen för fysik, kemi och biologi. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 516:6, s. 982-990
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Nano-structural evolution of layer morphology and interfacial roughness in Cr/Sc metal multilayers grown with ion assistance during magnetron sputter deposition has been investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and hard X-ray reflectivity. Calculations based on a binary collision model predict an ion-assisted growth window for optimized Cr/Sc multilayer interface sharpness, within the ion energy range of 21 eV to 37 eV and an ion flux of 10 ions per deposited atom. Multilayers with nominal modulation periods in the range of 1.6 nm to 10.2 nm, grown with these conditions, exhibit a well-defined layer structure with an improved flattening and abruptness of the interfaces. It is shown that multilayers with a modulation period smaller than 3.4 nm have clear benefit from the reduced intermixing obtained by utilizing a two-stage ion energy modulation for each individual layer. The amorphization of Sc and Cr layers, below certain thicknesses, is found to be independent of the low energy ion-assistance. It is also shown that the Cr/Sc multilayers, containing periods less than 2 nm are ‘self healing’ i.e. they re-gain abrupt interfaces and flat layers after morphological disturbances during ion assisted growth. In comparison, multilayers grown without ion-assistance exhibited severe roughness and layer distortions.
|
|
| 5. |
- Ghafoor, Naureen, et al.
(author)
-
Interface engineered ultra-short period Cr/Ti multilayers as high reflectance mirrors and polarizers for soft X-rays of lambda=2.74 nm wavelength
- 2006
-
In: Applied Optics. - 1559-128X .- 2155-3165. ; 45:1, s. 137-143
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cr-Ti multilayers with ultrashort periods of 1.39-2.04 nm have been grown for the first time as highly reflective, soft-x-ray multilayer, near-normal incidence mirrors for transition radiation and Cherenkov radiation x-ray sources based on the Ti-2p absorption edge at E = 452eV (lambda = 2.74 nm). Hard, as well as soft, x-ay reflectivity and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the nanostructure of the mirrors. To achieve minimal accumulated roughness, improved interface flatness, and to avoid intermixing at the interfaces, each individual layer was engineered by use of a two-stage ion assistance process during magnetron sputter deposition: The first 0.3 nm of each Ti and Cr layer was grown without ion assistance, and the remaining 0.39-0.72 nm of the layers were grown with high ion-neutral flux ratios Phi˙(PhiTi = 3.3, PhiCr = 2.2) and a low energy Eion (ETi = 23.7 and ECr = 21.2), ion assistance. A maximum soft-x-ray reflectivity of R = 2.1% at near-normal incidence (~78.8°) was achieved for a multilayer mirror containing 100 bilayers with a modulation period of 1.379 nm and a layer thickness ratio of Gamma = 0.5. For a polarizing multilayer mirror with 150 bilayers designed for operation at the Brewster angle, 45°, an extinction ratio, Rs/Rp, of 266 was achieved with an absolute reflectivity of R = 4.3%.
|
|
| 6. |
- Karim, Amir, 1976-, et al.
(author)
-
Characterization of Er/O-doped Si-LEDs with low thermal quenching
- 2005
-
In: Material Research Society Symposium Proceedings. ; , s. 117-124
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Electroluminescence studies of MBE-grown Er/O-doped Si-diodes at reverse bias have been done. For some devices there is much reduced thermal quenching of the emission at 1.54 µm. There are examples where the temperature dependence is abnormal in that the intensity for a constant current even increases with temperature up to e.g. 80 oC. These devices have been studied with cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy to see the microstructure of the Er/O-doped layers as well as the B-doped SiGe-layers that are used as electron emitters during reverse bias. Although there are defects in the layers there is no evidence for large thick precipitates of SiO2. While reduced thermal quenching often is attributed to having the Er-ions within SiO2 layers, this is not the case for our structures as evidenced by our TEM-studies. The origin of the abnormal temperature dependence is attributed to the two mechanisms of breakdown in the reverse-biased diodes. At low temperature the breakdown current is mainly due to avalanche resulting in low-energy electrons and holes that quenches the intensity by Auger de-excitation of the Er-ions. At higher temperature the breakdown current is mainly phonon-assisted tunnelling which results in a more efficient pumping with less de-excitation of the Er-ions. Finally at the highest temperatures the thermal quenching sets in corresponding to an activation energy of 125 meV, which is slightly lower than 150 meV that has been reported in other studies.
|
|
| 7. |
- Lattemann, Martina, et al.
(author)
-
Investigation of high power impulse magnetron sputtering pretreated interfaces for adhesion enhancement of hard coatings on steel
- 2006
-
In: Surface & Coatings Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0257-8972 .- 1879-3347. ; 200:22-23, s. 6495-6499
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In order to improve the adhesion of hard coatings such as CrN, a surface pretreatment by the novel high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) technique followed by reactive unbalanced d.c. magnetron sputtering deposition was performed using a Cr target. The HIPIMS plasma comprising a high metal ion-to-neutral ratio consisting of single- and double-charged metal species identified by mass spectrometry increased the metal ion flux to the substrate. When applying a negative substrate bias Ub the adhesion was enhanced due to sputter cleaning of the surface and metal ion intermixing in the interface region. This intermixing, resulting in a gradual change of the composition, is considered to enhance the adhesion of the hard coatings on steel substrates. The pretreatment was carried out in an inert gas atmosphere at a pressure of pAr = 1 mTorr, the duration was varied between 25 and 75 min, whereas the negative substrate bias was varied between 400 V and 1200 V. The adhesion was found to depend on the substrate bias as well as on the target power and, for low substrate bias, on the duration of the pretreatment. For CrN the critical load of failure determined by scratch test could be increased in comparison to the values reported for specimens pretreated by conventional Ar etching. The influence of the target peak voltage, the substrate bias as well as pretreatment time on the constitution and morphology of the interface after the pretreatment is discussed applying analytical transmission electron microscopy.
|
|
