cvd and pvd thin film techniques
DESCRIPTION
AN OUTLINE OF DIFFERENT THIN FILM TECHNIQUESTRANSCRIPT
Vapor Deposition Pattern Transfer:
Additive techniques-Physical and Chemical Vapor
Deposition
RAJEEV R PILLAI
Content
Physical vapor deposition (PVD)– Thermal evaporation
– Sputtering– Evaporation and sputtering compared
– MBE– Laser sputtering– Ion Plating– Cluster-Beam
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) – Reaction mechanisms
– Step coverage– CVD overview
Epitaxy Electrochemical
Deposition
Physical vapor deposition (PVD)
The physical vapor deposition technique is based on the formation of vapor of the material to be deposited as a thin film. The material in solid form is either heated until evaporation (thermal evaporation) or sputtered by ions (sputtering). In the last case, ions are generated by a plasma discharge usually within an inert gas (argon). It is also possible to bombard the sample with an ion beam from an external ion source. This allows to vary the energy and intensity of ions reaching the target surface.
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): thermal evaporation
Heat Sources Advantages DisadvantagesResistance No radiation Contaminatione-beam Low contamination RadiationRF No radiation ContaminationLaser No radiation, low
contaminationExpensive
N = No exp- ekT
6
The number of molecules leaving a unit area of evaporant per second
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): thermal evaporation
Si
Resist
d
Evaporant container with orifice diameter DD
Arbitrary surface element
1-exp (+d/)
Kn = /D > 1
A ~ cos cos /d2
N (molecules/unit area/unit time) =3. 513. 1022Pv(T)/ (MT)1/2
The cosine law
This is the relation between vapor pressure ofthe evaporant and the evaporation rate. If a high vacuum is established, most molecules/atoms will reachthe substrate without intervening collisions. Atoms andmolecules flow through the orifice in a single straight track,or we have free molecular flow :
The fraction of particles scattered by collisions with atoms of residual gas is proportional to:
The source-to-wafer distance must be smaler than the mean free path (e.g, 25 to 70 cm)
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): thermal evaporation
t2
t1
Substrate
t1
t2
= cos 1
cos 2
3
Surface feature
Source
Source
Shadow
t1/t2=cos/cos
= (RT/2M)1/2 /PT
From kinetic theory the mean free path relates to the total pressure as:
Since the thickness of the deposited film, t, is proportionalTo the cos , the ratio of the film thickness shown in the Figure on the right with = 0° is given as:
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): sputtering
W= kV iPTd
-V working voltage- i discharge current- d, anode-cathode distance- PT, gas pressure- k proportionality constant
Momentum transfer
Evaporation and sputtering:comparison
Evaporation SputteringRate Thousand atomic layers per second
(e.g. 0.5 µm/min for Al)One atomic layer per second
Choice of materials Limited Almost unlimited
Purity Better (no gas inclusions, very highvacuum)
Possibility of incorporatingimpurities (low-medium vacuumrange)
Substrate heating Very low Unless magnetron is used substrateheating can be substantial
Surface damage Very low, with e-beam x-raydamage is possible
Ionic bombardment damage
In-s itu cleaning Not an option Easily done with a sputter etch
Alloy compositions ,s tochiometry
Little or no control Alloy composition can be tightlycontrolled
X-ray damage Only with e-beam evaporation Radiation and particle damage ispossible
Changes in sourcematerial
Easy Expensive
Decomposition ofmaterial
High Low
Scaling-up Difficult Good
Uniformity Difficult Easy over large areas
Capital Equipment Low cost More expensive
Number ofdepositions
Only one deposition per charge Many depositions can be carriedout per target
Thickness control Not easy to control Several controls possible
Adhesion Often poor Excellent
Shadowing effect Large Small
Film properties (e. g.grain s ize and s tepcoverage)
Difficult to control Control by bias, pressure,substrate heat
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): MBE, Laser Ablation
-
MBE– Epitaxy: homo-epitaxy hetero-epitaxy
– Very slow: 1µm/hr– Very low pressure: 10-11 Torr
Laser sputter deposition– Complex compounds (e.g. HTSC, biocompatible ceramics)
Physical vapor deposition (PVD): Ion cluster plating
Ionized cluster: it is possible to ionize atom clusters that are being evaporated leading to a higher energy and a film with better properties (adherence, density, etc.). – From 100 mbar (heater
cell) to 10-5 to 10-7 mbar (vacuum)--sudden cooling
– Deposits nanoparticles Combines evaporation with a
plasma» faster than sputtering» complex compositions» good adhesion
Gas cluster ions consist of many atoms or molecules weakly bound to each other and sharing a common electrical charge. As in the case of monomer ions, beams of cluster ions can propagate under vacuum and the energies of the ions can be controlled using acceleration voltages. A cluster ion has much larger mass and momentum with lower energy per atom than a monomer ion carrying the same total energy. Upon impact on solid surfaces, cluster ions depart all their energy to an extremely shallow region of the surface. Cluster plating material is forced sideways and produces highly smooth surfaces.
Also individual atoms can be ionized and lead to ion plating (see figure on the right, example coating : very hard TiN)
Physical vapor deposition (PVD):Ion cluster plating and ion plating
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD): reaction mechanisms
Mass transport of the reactant in the bulk
Gas-phase reactions (homogeneous)
Mass transport to the surface
Adsorption on the surface Surface reactions
(heterogeneous) Surface migration Incorporation of film
constituents, island formation
Desorption of by-products Mass transport of by-
produccts in bulk
CVD: Diffusive-convective transport of depositing species to a substrate with many intermolecular collisions-driven by a concentration gradient
SiH4SiH4
Si
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD): reaction mechanisms
Fl = Dc
x
(x) x
U
1
2
1
L(x)dX
2
30
L
L
UL
1
2
ReL UL
= 2L
3 ReL
Energy sources for deposition:– Thermal– Plasma– Laser– Photons
Deposition rate or film growth rate(Fick’s first law)
(gas viscosity , gas density, gas stream velocity U)
(Dimensionless Reynolds number)
Laminar flow
L
(x)
dx
(U)
(Boundary layer thickness)
Fl = Dc
2L3 ReL (by substitution in Fick’s first law and x=)
Mass flow controlled regime (square root of gas velocity)(e.g. AP CVD~ 100-10 kPa) : FASTER
Thermally activated regime: rate limiting step is surface reaction (e.g. LP CVD ~ 100 Pa----D is very large) : SLOWER
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD): reaction mechanisms
Fl = Dc
2L3 ReL
R = Ro e - Ea
kT
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD): step coverage
Fl = Dc
2L3 ReL
R = Ro e - Ea
kT
Step coverage, two factors are important– Mean free path and
surface migration i.e. P and T
– Mean free path:
w
z
is angle of arrival
kT
21
2 PTa2
Fld arctan
w
z
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) : overview
CVD (thermal)– APCVD (atmospheric)
– LPCVD (<10 Pa)– VLPCVD (<1.3 Pa)
PE CVD (plasma enhanced)
Photon-assisted CVD Laser-assisted CVD MOCVD
Tensile stress causes concave bending of a thin substrate
Compressive stress causes convex bending of a thin substate
Deposited film
Deposited film
The LCVD method is able to fabricate continuous thin rods and fibres by pulling the substrate away from the stationary laser focus at the linear growth speed of the material while keeping the laser focus on the rod tip, as shown in the Figure . LCVD was first demonstrated for carbon and silicon rods. However, fibres were grown from hundreds of substrates including silicon, carbon, boron, oxides, nitrides, carbides, borides, and metals such as aluminium. The LCVD process can operate at low and high chamber pressures. The growth rate is normally less than 100 µm/s at low chamber pressure (<<1 bar). At high chamber pressure (>1 bar), high growth rate (>1.1 mm/s) has been achieved for small-diameter (< 20 µm) amorphous boron fibres.
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) : L-CVD
Epitaxy
VPE:– MBE (PVD) (see above)– MOCVD (CVD) i.e.organo-
metallic CVD(e.g. trimethyl aluminum to deposit Al) (see above)
Liquid phase epitaxy Solid epitaxy:
recrystallization of amorphous material (e.g. poly-Si)
Liquid phase epitaxy
Epitaxy
Selective epitaxy Epi-layer thickness:
– IR– Capacitance,Voltage
– Profilometry– Tapered groove– Angle-lap and stain
– Weighing
Selective epitaxy
Electrochemical deposition: electroless
Electroless metal displacement
Electroless sustainable oxidation of a reductant– Metal salt (e.g.NiCl2)– Reductant
(e.g.hypophosphite)– Stabilizer:bath is
thermodynamically unstable needs catalytic poison (e.g. thiourea)
– Complexing agent : prevent too much free metal
– Buffer: keep the pH range narrow
– Accelerators: increase deposition rate without causing bath instability (e.g. pyridine)
Deposition on insulators (e.g. plastics): seed surface with SnCl2/HCl
1. Zn(s) + Cu 2+(aq) ------> Zn 2+(aq) + Cu(s)
2. Reduction (cathode reaction) : Ni+2 + 2e- —> Ni
Oxidation (anode reaction): H2PO 2- + H2O—> H2PO3
- +2H+ +2e- ------------------------------------------
Ni+2 + H2PO2- + H2O —> Ni + H2PO3
- + 2H+
e.g. electroless Cu: 40 µmhr-1
Cu
Electrochemical deposition: electroless
Evan’s diagram: electroless deposition is the combined result of two independent electrode reactions (anodic and cathodic partial reactions)
Mixed potential (EM): reactions belong to different systems
ideposition = ia = ic and I=A x i
deposition Total amount deposited: m max=
I t M/Fz (t is deposition time, Molecular weight, F is the Faraday constant, z is the charge on the ion)
CMOS compatible: no leads required
Evan’s diagram
F= 96,500 coulombs=1, 6 10 -19 (electron charge) x 6. 02 10 23 (Avogadro’s number)
+
-
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-thermodynamics Electrolytic cell
– Au cathode (inert surface for Ni deposition)
– Graphite anode (not attacked by Cl2)
Two electrode cells (anode, cathode, working and reference or counter electrode) e.g. for potentiometric measurements (voltage measurements)
Three electrode cells (working, reference and counter electrode) e.g. for amperometric measurements (current measurements)
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-thermodynamics (E)
E E 0 RT
zFln a
Mz
² G=² G2-² G1 ² G=-(E2-E1)zF=-EcellzF
² G=² G0-RT ln aMz+=² G0-RT ln CMz+z+
² G= - EzF
E2 > E1 : - battery
E2 < E1 : + E ext > E cell to afford deposition
(Nernst equation)
1. Free energy change for ion in the solution to atom in the metal (cathodic reaction): or also
2. The electrical work, w, performed in electrodepositionat constant pressure and constant temperature: and since V =0
G G m(free energy pure metal) - Ge(free energy of ion in the electrolyte)
G = - w + PV
3. Substituting Equation (2) in (1) one gets
(1)
(2)
4. Repeat (1) and (2) for anodic reaction:
or
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-thermodynamics ()
A thermodynamic possible reaction may not occur if the kinetics are not favorable
Kinetics express themselves through all types of overpotentials
E -E o = anodic and - is cathodic)
² G* = ² G#+
kc
kT
he
G #_
RT
k
k
ckT
heF
RT
i
k
z F k
c z FkT
heF
RT
i
k
zF kc
z F
kT
he
(1 )FRT
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-kinetics-activation control
Understanding of polarization curves: consider a positive ion transported from solution to the electrode
Successful ion jump frequency is given by the Boltzmann distribution theory (h is Planck constant):
(without field)
(with field)
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-kinetics-activation control
ie i
k
c zFkT
he
(1 )FeRT i
i
c zFkT
he
FeRT
e
i i
i
iie (e(1 )FRT e
FRT )
a blog(i)
(Butler-Volmer)
(Tafel law)
At equilibrium the exchange current density is given by:
The reaction polarization is then given by:
The measurable current density is then given by:
For large enough overpotential:
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-kinetics-diffusion control
dCdX
Cx
0 Cx0
c RTnF
lnCx=0
C0
i nFD0C
0 Cx0
I l nFAD0C
0
i il (1 enFcRT )
From activation control to diffusion control:
Concentration difference leads to another overpotential i.e. concentration polarization:
Using Faraday’s law we may write also:
At a certain potential C x=0=0 and then:
Cx=0
C0
1- i
i lwe get :
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-non-linear diffusion effects
D0t 1
2
I l nFAC0 D0
t
1
2
I l nFAC0 D0
t
1
2 + AnFD0
C0
r
Nonlinear diffusion and the advantages of using micro-electrodes:
An electrode with a size comparable to the thickness of the diffusion layer
The Cottrell equation is the current-vs.-time on an electrode after a potential step:
For micro-electrodes it needs correction :
I l nFAD0C
0
Electrochemical deposition :electrodeposition-non-linear diffusion effects
I l,m rnFD0C0 (disc)
I l,m 2rnFD0C0 (hemisphere)
I l,m 4rnFD0C0 (sphere )
I l,m AnFD0C
0
r L
The diffusion limited currents for some different electrode shapes are given as (at longer times after bias application and for small electrodes):
If the electrodes are recessed another correction term must be introduced:
THANKS