| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session EL+AS+EM+MS+TF-ThP |
| Session: | Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Focus Topic Poster Session |
| Presenter: | D. Mortensen, Brigham Young University |
| Authors: | D. Mortensen, Brigham Young University D.D. Allred, Brigham Young University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We have recently found that exposure of reactively sputtered yttrium oxide thin films to 7.2 eV photons in air produces a dramatic (factor of 4) increase in the films’ thickness. This result was completely unexpected, Y2O3 is exceptional stable, and demanded further investigation. This is particularly important since yttria and neighboring metal oxides such as ZrO2 have been considered, and HfO2 is being used, as components in gate oxides for silicon devices. The excimer lamp used for the study was of the type used in cleaning the surfaces of silicon wafers in the semiconductor industry. It is vital to understand how metal oxides might swell during cleaning.
We have experimentally observed the following:
1. The film-thickness increase is linear with exposure time up to a point.
2. Over a factor of four increase in film thicknesses, as measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry, has been observed. E.g., film which was about 20 nm thick as deposited reached a thickness of about 100nm.
3. When the yttrium oxide sample is placed in a furnace the changes rendered to the yttrium oxide sample are reversed.
4. A film placed in a plasma cleaner does not show this increase.
5. These effects are noticeably absent under the same conditions for a silicon wafer.
6. The refractive index of the film decreased with exposure time, suggesting the film could becoming more porous, though effective media optical models were unsuccessful in modeling the optical properties.
In addition to ellipsometry the films were studied by XPS and STEM.