Annealing of dilute binary Cu(Ti), Cu(In), Cu(Al), Cu(Sn), Cu(Mg), Cu(Nb), Cu(B), Cu(Co) and Cu(Ag) alloy films resulted in the strongest <111> fiber texture for Cu(Ti) and the lowest resistivity for Cu(Ag). The behavior of the alloy films was compared and contrasted with that for a pure evaporated Cu film. Electron beam evaporated films with compositions in the range of 2.0-4.2 at% and thicknesses in the range of 420-560 nm were annealed at 400°C for 5 hours. Two different approaches were used to derive volume fractions of texture components, namely fiber plots and orientation distributions. It is argued that for polytextured films such as the copper alloys studied here, orientation distributions derived from pole figures provide the most reliable basis for quantitative characterization.

We have studied the formation of titanium silicides in the presence of an ultra-thin layer of Ta, interposed between Ti and Si. In-situ x-ray diffraction (XRD), resistance measurements and elastic light scattering were used to study the thin film reactions in real time during ramp anneals to 1000°C. On poly-Si substrates the Ta thickness was varied from 0 to 1.5 nm while the Ti thickness was held constant at ∼27 nm. The time-resolved XRD shows that the volume fraction of C40 and metal-rich silicide phases grows with increasing Ta layer thickness. Increased Ta layer thicknesses also delay the growth of the C49 disilicide phase to higher temperatures. Among the Ta thicknesses we examined, 0.3 nm is the most effective in lowering the C49-C54 transformation temperature. Films with Ta layers thicker than 0.5 nm do not completely transform into the C54 phase. The texture of the C54 phase is also sensitive to the Ta thickness. The C54 disilicide film is predominantly (010) textured for the Ti / 0.3 nm Ta sample. The final C54 texture is significantly different for Ta layers thinner or thicker than the optimal 0.3 nm. This suggests that the most effective thickness for lowering the C54 formation temperature is related to the development of a strong (010) texture. The possibility of a template effect by the C40 or metal-rich Ti5Si3 phases is also discussed on the basis of texture considerations.

The present work deals with investigation of the initial stages of growth of (Bi, Bi-Sb) films deposited by the methods of different degrees of nonequilibrium, such as thermal evaporation (TE) and self-ion assisted deposition (SIAD). The comparative analysis of growth mechanisms and film island evolution (faceting and coalescence) was carried out depending on the type (crystalline, amorphous) and temperature of substrate, evaporation rate, film composition, etc. Ion bombardment during deposition leads to films of higher density and reduced porosity, and greater stability than those deposited without bombardment. As compared with the pure Bi films the facetted island morphology of the SIAD Bi–Sb (20%) films is not so clear. This is explained by partial realization of the coalescence process by the liquid fluidity mechanism. At all substrate temperatures the grain orientation (111) R is more pronounced for SIAD films than for the TE films.

Indium tin oxide is one of the most used transparent conducting oxides. In order to reduce the processing thermal budget and enhance compatibility of these films for such applications as transparent electrodes for solar cells and flat panel displays, lower deposition temperatures are desirable. The addition of a non-thermal energy source during deposition, in this case, a mercury lamp, has the ability to lower the required substrate temperature during processing while increasing the oxygen content of the deposited film through the added contribution of ionized species into the deposited material. We investigated the microstructure of UV-assisted pulsed laser deposited indium tin oxide films. Comparisons between the UV and non-UV films were made in order to judge the effectiveness of the UV radiation in achieving desirable properties.

Tantalum can be used both as a diffusion barrier and an adhesion layer for copper metallization for semiconductor devices. Experiments show that β-Ta (200) substrates promote (111) texture growth in copper films. In this study, we first create an embedded atom method (EAM) Cu-Ta potential developed by our force matching method (FMM); then the potential is used for Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of initial copper thin film growth on β-Ta substrates. Both Cu/Ta interfacial structures and copper film structure are investigated. The relevance to (111) texturing is discussed.

In this paper we present a direct comparison between the properties of bulk magnetic systems and those of corresponding thin films obtained by pulsed laser deposition. These are: Fe50Co50, Fe3O4, Fe3O4:Co and Fe2O3:Cr. Using transmission and conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, we present results on the bulk and surface hyperfine magnetic fields, site populations and magnetic texture. Our results support an increase in the hyperfine field values at surfaces, a more pronounced out-of-plane magnetic texture in the films, as well as a perfect transfer of stoichiometry and substitution level from target to substrate materials.

A new series of low-melting, highly volatile, thermally and air-stable cadmium MOCVD precursors have been synthesized and characterized. Cd(hfa)2(N, N-DE-N', N'-DMEDA) has been successfully utilized in the growth of highly conductive and transparent CdO thin films. Hall measurements conducted on films deposited simultaneously on MgO (100) single crystal and Corning 1737F glass substrates reveal that the films on MgO have significantly enhanced carrier mobilities. Owing to similar grain sizes and carrier concentrations we attribute this effect to improved texture and associated improvements crystalline order. Conductivities as high as 8,590 S/cm are obtained which is to our knowledge the highest value reported to date for CdO films without aliovalent dopants.

Synthesis of ‘solid solution’ and ‘core-shell’ types of well defined Co-Pt based nanoalloys smaller than 10nm have been achieved by redox transmetalation reactions. This redox transmetalation are selectively observed only if the redox potential between two metals is favorable. The composition of the magnetic alloys can also be tuned by adjusting the ratio of reactants. Annealed core-shell nanoparticles transformed into mixed nanoalloys with face centered tetragonal (fct) structures, which show large coercivity and ferromagnetism at room temperature. These nanoparticles can potentially be used as an independent single magnetic bit of tera-bit information storage. Also, this kind of redox transmetalation reaction can be utilized as a general process to synthesize various types of nanoalloys with controlled composition in a selective fashion.

Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) films have been grown on c-plane (001) and a-plane (110) sapphire by RF magnetron sputtering from a ceramic target. The films grew epitaxially, even at room temperature. However, the crystalline quality depends both on the substrate temperature as well as on the sapphire orientation. The best films, proved by X-ray diffraction (rocking curves and pole figure measurements) were grown on (110)-oriented sapphire in the temperature range 473 to 773 K. The minimum rocking curve half width was about 0.75 °. By Rutherford backscattering analysis it could be shown, that the films exhibit a significant variation of the defect density over the film thickness. The highest density, as expected, is observed at the interface sapphire/ZnO:Al. Films grown on (001)-oriented sapphire have higher rocking curve half widths (about 1.3 °) and exhibit sometimes two types of domains in the same film twisted by 30 °.

Cu may diffuse into the active areas of semiconductors resulting in degradation of the devices. Therefore Cu is isolated from silicon wafers by barrier layers. In this study, copper films were deposited onto silicon substrates coated using polycrystalline Ta3N5 and amorphous α-C:H barrier by the partially ionized beam deposition technique at 6 kV bias, to investigate an influence of barrier layer structure on texture and microstructure of Cu films. After deposition, films were annealed under vacuum. Texture of the films was studied by X-ray diffraction and further microstructural analysis of the copper films was performed by orientation imaging microscopy. Results of the structural analysis reveal large (100) grains in films deposited on α-C:H barrier layer and a bi-modal texture in films on Ta3N5.

The thermal stability of nanocrystalline ultra-soft magnetic (Fe98Zr2)1-xNx films with x=0.10-0.25 was studied using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), positron beam analysis (PBA) and thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS). The results demonstrate that grain growth during the heat treatment is accompanied by an increase of the free volume, by nitrogen reallocation and desorption. All this can drastically deteriorate the ultra-soft magnetic properties. The desorption starts already at slightly elevated temperatures, below 100°C. However, most of the nitrogen leaves the sample at a temperature above 500°C.

We propose a two-lattice method for direct determination of the recoilless fraction using a single room-temperature transmission Mössbauer measurement. The method is first demonstrated for the case of iron and metallic glass two-foil system and is next generalized for the case of physical mixtures of two powders. We further apply this method to determine the recoilless fraction of hematite and magnetite particles. Finally, we provide direct measurement of the recoilless fraction in nanohematite and nanomagnetite with an average particle size of 19 nm.

Monodisperse, air-stable Co/CoO and CoAg55 nanoparticles with a mean diameter of about 11 nm have been synthesized using methods of colloidal chemistry. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) element-specific TEM images reveal a multiply-twinned fcc Co metallic core covered with a 2-2.5 nm thick CoO shell. The lattice parameters are in agreement with those of bulk Co and CoO. A shift of the hysteresis loop of 0.4 T, induced by field CoOling of the Co/CoO particles, indicates a strong unidirectional exchange anisotropy due to the interaction between the ferromagnetic Co core and the antiferromagnetic CoO shell. CoAg55 composite particles consist of grains of fcc Co and fcc Ag. No evidence for alloy formation was observed. Electron energy-loss and X-ray microanalysis indicate that Co is predominantly found in the surface region of the particles. SQUID magnetometry shows that at room temperature the CoAg55 particles are superparamagnetic while at 90 K a hysteresis loop was detected with a coercive field of 0.07 T and a remanent magnetization of 32 % of the saturation value.

High performance magnetic heads, inductors and transformers, indispensable to information technology encompassing from information storage, portable power delivery, to wireless communication, require soft magnetic films with low coercivities, high permeability, and large ferromagnetic resonance frequencies.

The Fe-Co-N-based films have a ferromagnetic resonance frequency of >1 GHz at zero-bias field, showing great promise for applications in write heads and integrated inductors in a frequency range of >1 GHz. Magnetization dynamics measurements at sub-nanosecond scale have been performed on Fe-Co-N high saturation soft magnetic films with Permalloy nanolayer seeds having a saturation magnetization of 24 kG. The high frequency behavior appears to be affected by magnetic anisotropy dispersion.

One of the biggest challenges facing integration of magnetic material onto silicon is the compatibility of magnetics with standard silicon processing techniques. Integrated inductors were realized using ground planes of Co-Ta-Zr (p=100μΩ-cm). The magnetic properties of Co-Ta-Zr showed no change even after undergoing high temperature processing. Inductors with 1μm Co-Ta-Zr produced inductance values up to 60% higher than the air core inductors at frequencies up to 1.4 GHz.

We report the non-epitaxial growth of highly textured (001) CoPt:B2O3 nanocomposite thin films that are deposited directly on thermally-oxidized Si wafers. Multilayers of Co/Pt/Co/B2O3 are deposited followed by appropriate thermal processing. The as-deposited films are disordered fcc CoPt phase, and magnetically soft. After annealing, an (001) orientation of CoPt-ordered grains is developed. The texture development is dependent both on the total film thickness and the annealing process. Nearly perfect (001) texture can be obtained in films with thinner initial layer thicknesses. Strong perpendicular anisotropy is shown to be related to this (001) texture.

We have experimentally measured magnetostriction of thin CoFe layers when deposited with various seed and capping layers. Seed and capping layers were chosen to be materials that may be used in spin-valve (SV) type structures. Materials deposited adjacent to the magnetic layer include Cu, Ta and TaN. The experimental results are interpreted using a model that allows separation of bulk and interface contributions to the measured magnetostriction [1].Results show a clear interfacial contribution that is dependent upon the material at the interface of the magnetic layer. The results demonstrate that surface contributions to the magnetostriction dominate as layer thickness decreases.

Spherical and cubic Pt nanoparticles and spherical, cubic and disk-shaped Co nanocrystals are produced by reduction of Pt2+-ion and decomposition of organometallic reagents in a hot solvent in presence of the surfactant molecules respectively. This displays the ability to control crystal growth and produce a range of nanoparticle shapes in the case of two different metallic elements.

CoPt-C and FePt-C nanocomposite thin films were prepared by a pulsed filtered vacuum arc deposition technique. Thermal annealing was performed in vacuum at various temperatures. The dependence of the magnetic properties on the carbon fraction and annealing temperature was studied. Both x-ray diffraction and magnetic force microscopy analyses confirmed the formation of nano-crystallites of face-centered-tetragonal phase of CoPt or FePt in the carbon matrix after annealing at a sufficiently high temperature. For the film with a particular composition of Fe43Pt35C22, the coercivity and the grain size were observed to increase with increasing annealing temperature, up to a value of 3.5 kOe at an annealing temperature of 650°C, and with a grain size about 10.5 nm.

Zr and ZrNx thin films are grown on Si(001) by DC magnetron sputtering. The detailed microstructure evolution and its corresponding electrical properties are systematically studied with various processing parameters including applied power, N2/Ar ratio, substrate bias and substrate temperature by 4-point probe, EPMA and XRD. It is found that while the negative substrate bias can decrease the resistivity of both Zr and ZrNx thin films, the texture microstructure of each thin film in the series is changed differently. As increasing N2/Ar ratio, the resistivity decreases in the beginning and then increases rapidly, which results from the variations of compositions and phases, while this minimum resistivity point shifts to a higher N2/Ar ratio for the films sputtered under higher applied power. The substrate temperature not only decreases the ZrNx film resistivity, but also increases the (002) preferred orientations most efficiently. The cause of each phenomenon is briefly discussed. Finally, two samples showing different degrees of (002) to (111) textures are annealed to investigate the diffusion barrier properties from a sandwich structure of Cu/ZrNx/Si(001). Results from 4-point probe reveal that the film with higher degree of (111) textures has a superior thermal stability.

Characterization of thin magnetic coating layer is always challenging, different analytical methods are required to characterize layer structure and composition. In the present paper, Rutherford backscattering (RBS)[1], particle induced x-ray emission (PIXE)[2], hydrogen forward scattering (HFS)[3] and nuclear reaction analysis (NRA)[4] are used to measure three typical magnetic film structures and coating layer. Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen contents are measured by deuteron NRA and hydrogen content by HFS. Magnetic layers beneath diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer are characterized by RBS and PIXE: PIXE for relative ratios of Cr, Fe, Co and Ni, and RBS for thickness and depth profiles. The analytical results of one test example shown in this paper demonstrate that the combination of these four methods can give complete and precise layer structure and composition.