Paper AS-TuP9
Characterization of Ceramic Materials using Electron, Ion, X-ray, and Optical Techniques

Tuesday, October 16, 2007, 6:00 pm, Room 4C

Ceramic materials are widely used because of their hardness, thermal stability, and electrical properties. However, these characteristics also present issues when it comes to processing. Powder pressing is commonly used, but due to the variability in powder sizes and structures, reproducibility is difficult. Therefore, fundamental understanding of interfaces and surfaces is critical to modeling efforts. Our group uses thin film experiments to gain insight into basic mechanisms, which can then be applied to more complicated systems. We are focusing on aluminum and hafnium-based materials. Al₂O₃ is used extensively today because of its low cost and excellent protective properties. Chemical vapor deposition of Al₂O₃ typically includes trimethylaluminum (TMA), a dangerous pyrophoric compound. Dimethylaluminum isopropoxide (DMAI) is an alternative precursor that displays the same high vapor pressure that makes TMA desirable, but also shows stability as a liquid in ambient conditions. Hafnium oxide materials have received recent emphasis as high-κ replacements of silicon dioxide in CMOS devices. In addition, the borides and carbides of hafnium also can be used in high temperature applications such as hypersonic flight and atmospheric re-entry. In this work, we provide examples of how Auger electron spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, time-of-flight medium energy backscattering spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry have been used to characterize these ceramics.