| AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Surface Science Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session SS-TuP |
| Session: | Surface Science Division Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Asim Khaniya, University of Central Florida |
| Authors: | A. Khaniya, University of Central Florida S. Ezzat, University of Central Florida W.E. Kaden, University of Central Florida K.R. Coffey, University of Central Florida |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Enhanced scattering of charge-carriers at sufficiently small dimensions1 (on the order of the mean free path of electrons), also known as the resistivity size-effect, leads to non-scalable increases in resistivity in conductors. As the trend of miniaturization continues in microelectronic fabrication, this size effect becomes a major challenge to current CMOS technology (Cu based) due to the loss of the majority of power at the interconnects due to their larger abundance. By using single-crystalline sub-nanometer metallic interconnects, room temperature ballistic conduction may be achieved. Within this general area of research, Ru has emerged as a promising candidate to replace Cu due to its weaker resistivity-thickness interdependence.2 In practical applications, interconnects are necessarily in contact with isolating dielectric materials, and this work includes studies of Ru (0001) films epitaxially grown on c-axis sapphire, both with and without various silica capping layers in various states of crystallinity and chemical interaction with the underlying metal. The overall goal of the project is to measure the transport properties of the controllably different samples, while providing sufficient materials characterization to unequivocally establish correlations between changes in resistivity and changes in bulk/interface conductor properties.
To-date, efforts within our group have centered on physical characterization of films produced by collaborators from the Coffey Group in MSE at UCF, and early-stage efforts at reproduction of established SiO2 thin-films via physical vapor deposition (PVD) within UHV. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) have been used to demonstrate a high degree of both surface cleanliness and long-range crystal order following large-scale growth recipes carried out by the Coffey group. Further investigation has shown clear correlation between the extent of Ru oxidation and sheet resistivity following different annealing procedures during the film growth recipes. XPS, LEED, and low energy He+ ion scattering spectroscopy (ISS) have been used to characterize our in situ SiO2 film growth, which is highly dependent upon both coverage and oxidative crystallization temperature. Further, in-situ measurement of resistivity of Ru(0001) and SiO2/Ru(0001) films will be made and additional atomically localized information will be collected using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).