Real-time x-ray reflectivity and diffraction measurements under in-situ sputtering deposition conditions were performed to study the crystallization behavior of LaNiO3thin films on Si substrate. We found that an amorphous layer of 60 Å was grown in the first 6 min of the deposition and subsequently a polycrystalline overlayer was developed as observed from the in-situ x-ray reflectivity curves and diffraction patterns. Polycrystalline columnar textures of (110) and (100) were grown on the top of this amorphous film. By comparing the integrated intensities of two Bragg peaks in the plane normal of x-ray diffraction, it was found that the ability of (100)-texturization enhanced with increasing film thickness over a certain critical value.

A dynamic model for the simulation of thermal chlorine etching of gallium arsenide is developed. The primary motivation for the development of the model is the design and testing of real time feedback controllers which rely upon in-situ optical measurements of etch depth obtained via spectroscopic ellipsometry. Unmeasurable parameters which appear in the model are identified, and the model is validated using experimental data. A linear-quadratic controller based on our model is designed and tested.

We introduce a new procedure to perform a design of experiments (DOE) for plasma etching processes. In particular, we use in situ etch rate estimations to maximize the number of observable setpoints during a single run of the etching process. This procedure is applied to characterize the spatial uniformity of a plasma chamber used in the manufacturing of flat panel displays.

The problems of real thermodynamic temperature measurement in semiconductor processing can be divided into fundamental and environmental. The first type arises from a-priori unknown and in process changing optical properties (emissivity) of the target wafer. Others have to do with the need to eliminate direct and indirect stray heat flux from entering into the sensor. We describe the advantages and pitfalls of various (passive and active) remote measurement methods. Experimental results of a novel emissivity independent technique for real time measurement in the range of 450–850°C with accuracy better than 1% for wafer emissivity in the range of 0.2 to 0.95 are given.

Methane/hydrogen plasmas have been reported to be sources both for a-C:H film deposition and for compound semiconductor etching. In this work, an in situ diagnostic study of methane/hydrogen plasma interactions with a silicon surface is carried out, focusing on the effect of hydrogen dilution. A remote electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma using a H2/Ar mixture excites methane gas near a Si(l 00) substrate. In situ multiple internal reflection Fourier transform infrared (MIR-FTIR) spectroscopy is used to probe the surface species at different hydrogen dilution ratios. We find that at low methane pressure without hydrogen dilution, a-C:H films are deposited. With H2 dilution, the results suggests that some sputter/etching of the silicon surface occurs. Hence, methyl groups are identified as potential etchants for silicon materials. The data suggest that there is a competition between etching and deposition chemistry which depends strongly upon the methane pressure and hydrogen ratio in the plasma.

Exposure to oxygen (1 Torr) at room temperature of thin Al films deposited by UHV ion beam sputtering has been studied using an in-situ resistance measurement set-up. Two lock-in amplifiers allow low noise data acquisition. By monitoring the conductance during deposition and oxidation we can deduce the consumed Al thickness as a function of exposure time (t). It is found that the Al/vacuum interface is diffuse for electron scattering. A two-stage mechanism for natural oxidation is revealed: fast growth (for t<10s) followed by a slow logarithmic growth. A simple model based on interface reactions and place exchange describes the experimental results. The conductance drop after 5 minutes of oxidation is found to decrease for initial Al thicknesses below 30A. This suggests the oxidation rates slow down for thin initial Al thicknesses.

Ion-induced photon emission from a silica glass irradiated with high-flux Cu ions was measured in a wavelength range from 450 nm to 800 nm, while nanoyarticles spontaneously formed in the silica glass. Current density was varied up to 100 µA/cm2 at a constant total dose of 3×106ions/cm2. The photon emission primarily arose from the vicinity of the substrate surface and consisted of sharp peaks due to neutral and singly-ionized species, Cu(I), Cu(II) and Si(II) ions, as well as a broad-band background. Intensity of Si(II) and Cu(I) increased with increasing current density. On the other hand, Cu(II) did not show a monotonic increase, decreasing around 100 µA/cm2. Measurements of in-situ EDX and ex-situ RBS were also conducted to study the relevant mechanisms. The ion-induced photon emission was attributed to recombination processes of sputtered ions and electrons in the plasma, induced by the high-flux Cu beam.