SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Farkas, Natalia
Language:	English
Published:	University of Akron / OhioLINK 2006
Subjects:	ZrN SPM sccm SPM oxidation oxide feature OXIDATION oxide
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1152948068

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-akron11529480682021-08-03T05:24:58Z SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS Farkas, Natalia ZrN SPM sccm SPM oxidation oxide feature OXIDATION oxide Systematic investigation of the scanning probe microscope (SPM) oxidation of transition metal and metal nitride thin films is presented. An extensive range of process and material specific parameters such as exposure time, voltage, humidity and nitrogen content of the sputtering plasma are investigated. During the intrinsic part of the SPM oxidation of ZrN, the density of the oxide increases until the total oxide thickness is approximately twice the feature height. Further oxide growth is sustainable, and in fact faster yet controlled, as the system crosses over from the space charge limited to a nitrogen-enhanced growth regime. Selective etching of the oxides and nitrides lead us to propose that as the oxidation reaches the ZrN/silicon interface delamination occurs resulting in hollow oxide feature formation through stress-induced plastic flow. Interpretations of the underlying processes and film properties responsible for the unique behavior of ZrN in all regimes are provided along with an explanation for the observed non-linear voltage dependence. To our knowledge, manifestation of three distinct transition points in SPM oxidation kinetics has never been reported. In addition, we exploit the nitrogen-enhanced growth of ZrN to fabricate high-voltage parallel oxide patterns 70 nm in height covering areas in the square centimeter range. The nitrogen-to-oxygen conversion is verified by Auger microprobe analysis. To show the versatility of the inherently simple high-voltage parallel writing technique, we demonstrate pattern transfer onto 15-100 nm thick FeN films. As opposed to ZrN, the iron oxide dissolves during the process fully exposing the substrate beneath and therefore eliminating the need for any post-exposure etching. This comparison is of fundamental interest in that Zr oxidation is driven by oxygen migration, whereas Fe oxidizes by metal ion transport. Implication of the use of patterned ZrN and FeN thin films for biomedical and magnetic applications are also discussed. In particular, with precisely controlled height and methodically designed lateral size, the synthetic FeN arrays are potential candidates for MRI sensitivity and resolution measurements. 2006-10-05 English text University of Akron / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1152948068 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1152948068 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	ZrN SPM sccm SPM oxidation oxide feature OXIDATION oxide
spellingShingle	ZrN SPM sccm SPM oxidation oxide feature OXIDATION oxide Farkas, Natalia SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
author	Farkas, Natalia
author_facet	Farkas, Natalia
author_sort	Farkas, Natalia
title	SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
title_short	SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
title_full	SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
title_fullStr	SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
title_full_unstemmed	SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
title_sort	scanning probe microscope oxidation and high-voltage parallel writing on metal and metal nitride thin films
publisher	University of Akron / OhioLINK
publishDate	2006
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1152948068
work_keys_str_mv	AT farkasnatalia scanningprobemicroscopeoxidationandhighvoltageparallelwritingonmetalandmetalnitridethinfilms
_version_	1719419547127119872

SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPE OXIDATION AND HIGH-VOLTAGE PARALLEL WRITING ON METAL AND METAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS

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