AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Thin Film Thursday Sessions
       Session TF-ThP

Paper TF-ThP19
Sputter-Deposited Carbon Fuses in Long-Term Digital Data Storage

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 6:00 pm, Room Hall D

Session: Thin Films Poster Session
Presenter: Jacob Bagley, Brigham Young University
Authors: J. Bagley, Brigham Young University
H. Wang, Brigham Young University
A. Diwan, Brigham Young University
R.C. Davis, Brigham Young University
B. Lunt, Brigham Young University
M.R. Linford, Brigham Young University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Solid-state digital data storage devices with the capacity of storing data for 1000 years are being developed. One implementation of this effort is a device that employs a series of carbon fuses. This study explores whether sputtering can yield sufficiently conductive carbon for this application. We hypothesize that reducing the amount of oxygen in the sputtered carbon may sufficiently improve its conductivity. Accordingly, carbon is deposited by DC magnetron sputtering. Sputtering conditions studied include argon pressures of 5 mTorr and 7 mTorr and powers of 250 W and 400 W. Titanium is also co-sputtered at 150 W with a closed shutter to act as an oxygen getter. The oxygen contents of the films were measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and their conductivity was measured with a 500 V megaohmmeter. The oxygen content of the films slightly decreases with decreasing argon pressure and decreasing power on the carbon target. Use of the titanium getter significantly decreases the oxygen contents of the films. However, no significant increase in conductivity is observed, i.e., the deposited carbon is not conductive enough for our purposes. We conclude that sputtered carbon, as deposited with our current system, is not suitable for our devices.