Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T19:38:21.775Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Glancing angle x-ray study of the effect of oxygen on interface reactions in Al/Ni bilayers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

S.M. Heald
Affiliation:
Applied Physics Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973
E.V. Barrera
Affiliation:
Applied Physics Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973
Get access

Abstract

Glancing angle x-ray reflectivity and EXAFS measurements have been made on a series of UHV prepared Al/Ni bilayers with varying amounts of oxygen impurities. These samples show an intrinsic reacted region prior to annealing, and for clean samples further reaction occurs at 250 °C. Oxygen is found to influence strongly the course of the reaction with an effect which depends on its location. A few percent O impurity within the Al film strongly suppresses the grain boundary diffusion path, which allows the growth of a smooth NiAl3 layer. Interfacial O exposures of 60 and 600 Langmuir both inhibit the initial reaction and raise the temperature at which further reaction occurs to as much as 300 °C with an effect which depends on exposure. The thickness of the intrinsic reaction zone is about 60 Å for clean samples, and is nearly eliminated for contaminated interfaces. The results indicate that surface/interface, grain boundary, and bulk diffusion all play important roles in the formation of these interfaces, and that each of these is influenced by O impurities.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Nastasi, M., Hung, L. S., and Mayer, J. W., Appl. Phys. Lett. 44, 511 (1984).Google Scholar
2Colgan, E. G., Nastasi, M., and Mayer, J. W., J. Appl. Phys. 58, 4125 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Zhao, X. A., Yang, H-Y., Ma, E., and Nicolet, M-A., J. Appl. Phys. 62, 1821 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Ma, E. and Nicolet, M-A., J. Appl. Phys. 65, 2703 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Chen, H. and Heald, S. M., Solid State Ionics 32/33, 924 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Chen, H. and Heald, S. M., Phys. Rev. B 42, 4913 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Heald, S. M., Chen, H., and Tranquada, J. M., Phys. Rev. B 38, 1016 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Chen, H. and Heald, S. M., J. Appl. Phys. 66, 1793 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Model 8301, Matheson Gas Products.Google Scholar
10Heald, S. M. and Stern, E. A., Phys. Rev. B 16, 5549 (1977).Google Scholar
11Chen, H., Studies of Cu-Al Interfaces Using Glancing Angle X-ray Reflectivity and EXAFS, Ph.D. Thesis, City Univ. of New York (1989).Google Scholar
12Heald, S. M. and Tranquada, J. M., in Physical Methods of Chemistry, edited by Rossiter, B. W. and Hamilton, J. F. (Wiley, New York, 1990), p. 189.Google Scholar
13Gurman, S. J., Binsted, N., and Ross, I., J. Phys. C 17, 143 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Ruckman, M. W., Jiang, L., and Strongin, M., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 8, 134 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams, edited by Massalski, T. B., Murray, J. L., Bennett, L. H., and Baker, H. (ASM, Metals Park, OH, 1986), p. 142.Google Scholar
16Grovenor, C. R. M., Microelectronic Materials (Adam Hilger, Bristol, 1989), Chap. 5.Google Scholar
17Colgan, E. G. and Mayer, J. W., Nucl. Instrum. Methods B 17, 242 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18DiMarzio, D., Chen, H., Ruckman, M. W., and Heald, S. M., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 7, 1549 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar