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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Ruco To Extend The Scalability Of Ultra-Thin Direct Plate Liners, Daniel Verne Greenslit Jan 2013

Ruco To Extend The Scalability Of Ultra-Thin Direct Plate Liners, Daniel Verne Greenslit

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In traditional semiconductor technology a sputtered copper seed layer is used to improve the adhesion, microstucture, and electromigration characteristics of electrochemically deposited (ECD) copper. The seed layer is deposited on top of a Ta/TaN stack. The Ta layer acts as an adhesion and nucleation layer for the copper seed and the TaN serves as a diffusion barrier for the Cu. As the line widths continue to shrink, scaling each of these layers becomes more difficult. It would be advantageous for the interconnect to be composed of as much copper as possible, transitioning from the traditional liner seed stack to a …


Nucleation, Wetting And Agglomeration Of Copper And Copper-Alloy Thin Films On Metal Liner Surfaces, Stephanie Florence Labarbera Jan 2011

Nucleation, Wetting And Agglomeration Of Copper And Copper-Alloy Thin Films On Metal Liner Surfaces, Stephanie Florence Labarbera

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

One of the key challenges in fabricating narrower and higher aspect ratio interconnects using damascene technology has been achieving an ultra-thin (~2 nm) and continuous Cu seed coverage on trench sidewalls. The thin seed is prone to agglomeration because of poor Cu wetting on the Ta liner. Using in-situ conductance measurements, the effect of lowering the substrate temperature during Cu seed deposition has been studied on tantalum (Ta) and ruthenium (Ru) liner surfaces. On a Ta surface, it was found that lowering the deposition temperature to -65°C increases the nucleation rate of the Cu thin film, and reduces the minimum …


Electronic And Structural Properties Of Molybdenum Thin Films As Determined By Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, J. D. Walker, H. Khatri, V. Ranjan, Jian Li, R. W. Collins, S. Marsillac Jan 2009

Electronic And Structural Properties Of Molybdenum Thin Films As Determined By Real Time Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, J. D. Walker, H. Khatri, V. Ranjan, Jian Li, R. W. Collins, S. Marsillac

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Walker, J.D., Khatri, H., Ranjan, V., Li, J., Collins, R.W., & Marsillac, S. (2009). Electronic and structural properties of molybdenum thin films as determined by real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry. Applied Physics Letters, 94(14). doi: 10.1063/1.3117222


Energy Pathways And Directionality In Deformation Twinning, S. Kibey, J. B. Liu, Duane D. Johnson, H. Sehitoglu Jan 2007

Energy Pathways And Directionality In Deformation Twinning, S. Kibey, J. B. Liu, Duane D. Johnson, H. Sehitoglu

Duane D. Johnson

We present ab initiodensity functional theory calculations of twinning energy pathways for two opposite twinning modes, (111)[112¯] and (111)[1¯1¯2], in fcc materials to examine the directional nature of twinning which cannot be explained by classical twin nucleationmodels or the “twinnability” criterion. By accounting for these energy pathways in a multiscale model, we quantitatively predict the critical twinning stress for the (111)[1¯1¯2] mode to be substantially higher compared to the favorable (111)[112¯] mode (whose predicted stresses are in agreement with experiment), thus, ruling out twinning in the (111)[1¯1¯2] mode.


Generalized Planar Fault Energies And Twinning In Cu–Al Alloys, S. Kibey, J. B. Liu, Duane D. Johnson, H. Sehitoglu Jan 2006

Generalized Planar Fault Energies And Twinning In Cu–Al Alloys, S. Kibey, J. B. Liu, Duane D. Johnson, H. Sehitoglu

Duane D. Johnson

We report ab initio density functional theory calculations of generalized planar fault energies of fcc Cu–xAl (x=0, 5.0, and 8.3at.%) alloys. We investigate the effects of substitutional solute Al on the unstable intrinsic γus and twin γutstacking faultenergies (SFEs). Our results reveal an increased tendency of Cu–Al to deform preferentially by twinning with increasing Al content, consistent with experiment. We attribute this mechanical behavior to appreciable lowering of the twinning barrier γut, along with the stable intrinsic and twin SFEs.


High-Efficiency Solar Cells Based On Cu(Inal)Se[Sub 2] Thin Films, S. Marsillac, P. D. Paulson, M. W. Haimbodi, R. W. Birkmire, W. N. Shafarman Jan 2002

High-Efficiency Solar Cells Based On Cu(Inal)Se[Sub 2] Thin Films, S. Marsillac, P. D. Paulson, M. W. Haimbodi, R. W. Birkmire, W. N. Shafarman

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A Cu(InAl)Se2solar cell with 16.9% efficiency is demonstrated using a Cu(InAl)Se2thin film deposited by four-source elemental evaporation and a device structure of glass/Mo/Cu(InAl)Se2/CdS/ZnO/indium tin oxide/(Ni/Algrid)/MgF2. A key to high efficiency is improved adhesion between the Cu(InAl)Se2 and the Mo back contact layer, provided by a 5-nm-thick Ga interlayer, which enabled the Cu(InAl)Se2 to be deposited at a 530 °C substrate temperature. Film and device properties are compared to Cu(InGa)Se2 with the same band gap of 1.16 eV. The solar cells have similar behavior, with performance limited by recombination through …


Segregation Of Bismuth To Triple Junctions In Copper, K.-M. Yin, Alexander H. King, T.E. Hsieh, F.-R. Chen, J.J. Kai, L. Chang Sep 1997

Segregation Of Bismuth To Triple Junctions In Copper, K.-M. Yin, Alexander H. King, T.E. Hsieh, F.-R. Chen, J.J. Kai, L. Chang

Alexander H. King

Bismuth segregation in copper has been studied using energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX) in a JEOL 2010F transmission electron microscope. In addition to the expected solute enrichment at grain boundaries, we have observed extremely high concentrations of bismuth at certain triple junctions, with significantly greater enrichment factors than in the adjacent grain boundaries. It is shown here that the triple junction segregation is a function of the parameters of the grain boundaries at the triple line, and existence of this type of segregation implies that the affected triple junctions embody excess free energy. At least one of the observed triple junctions …


Compensation And Characterization Of Gallium Arsenide, Randy A. Roush Jan 1995

Compensation And Characterization Of Gallium Arsenide, Randy A. Roush

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The properties of transition metals in gallium arsenide have been previously investigated extensively with respect to activation energies, but little effort has been made to correlate processing parameters with electronic characteristics. Diffusion of copper in gallium arsenide is of technological importance due to the development of GaAs:Cu bistable photoconductive devices. Several techniques are demonstrated in this work to develop and characterize compensated gallium arsenide wafers. The material is created by the thermal diffusion of copper into silicon-doped GaAs. Transition metals generally form deep and shallow acceptors in GaAs, and therefore compensation is possible by material processing such that the shallow …


Influence Of Copper Doping On The Performance Of Optically Controlled Gaas Switches, St. T. Ko, V. K. Lakdawala, K. H. Schoenbach, M. S. Mazzola Jan 1990

Influence Of Copper Doping On The Performance Of Optically Controlled Gaas Switches, St. T. Ko, V. K. Lakdawala, K. H. Schoenbach, M. S. Mazzola

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The influence of the copper concentration in silicon-doped gallium arsenide on the photoionization and photoquenching of charge carriers was studied both experimentally and theoretically. The studies indicate that the compensation ratio (NCu/NSi) is an important parameter for the GaAs:Si:Cu switch systems with regard to the turn-on and turn-off performance. The optimum copper concentration for the use of GaAs:Si:Cu as an optically controlled closing and opening switch is determined.


An Optically Controlled Closing And Opening Semiconductor Switch, K. H. Schoenbach, V. K. Lakdawala, R. Germer, S. T. Ko Jan 1988

An Optically Controlled Closing And Opening Semiconductor Switch, K. H. Schoenbach, V. K. Lakdawala, R. Germer, S. T. Ko

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A concept for a bulk semiconductor switch is presented, where the conductivity is increased and reduced, respectively, through illumination with light of different wavelengths. The increase in conductivity is accomplished by electron ionization from deep centers and generation of bound holes. The reduction of conductivity is obtained by hole ionization from the excited centers and subsequent recombination of free electrons and holes. The transient behavior of electron and hole density in a high power semiconductor (GaAs:Cu) switch is computed by means of a rate equation model. Changes in conductivity by five orders of magnitude can be obtained.