Foram realizados ensaios tribológicos de deslizamento do par Si3N4-Al2O3, lubrificado com água, na configuração esfera contra disco, sendo a esfera de nitreto de silício e o disco de alumina para investigar a influência da velocidade de deslizamento, da carga aplicada e da temperatura no coeficiente de atrito. As esferas de nitreto de silício e os discos de alumina foram caracterizados determinando-se: densidades, dureza Vickers, módulo de elasticidade e tenacidade à fratura. Os ensaios foram realizados com rugosidade inicial nos discos de Rrms = 352 nm. O regime de ultra baixo coeficiente de atrito (UBCA, &#956; < 0,01) foi atingido após um período de running-in de aproximadamente uma hora e o coeficiente de atrito ficou na faixa de &#956; = 0,008 a &#956; = 0,002. Os resultados mostraram que este sistema deslizante tem características hidrodinâmicas, pois o coeficiente de atrito diminuiu com o aumento da velocidade de deslizamento. Uma variação suave da carga aplicada fez com que o coeficiente de atrito permanecesse no regime de UBCA, com a carga aplicada variando de 54 N até 94 N. Em temperaturas menores ou iguais a 11°C o sistema não atingiu o regime de UBCA e o coeficiente de atrito final ficou da ordem de centésimos. Foi observado o fenômeno de UBCA em temperaturas de 30 e 40°C. No entanto, nestas temperaturas, a baixa viscosidade da água não deveria permitir que o sistema atingisse o regime de UBCA. A análise dos dados possibilitou inferir que durante o regime de UBCA o sistema desliza num regime de lubrificação mista, sendo lubrificação hidrodinâmica, devido ao filme de água, somada a lubrificação limite, devido às camadas hidratadas formadas nas superfícies das cerâmicas. Os resultados mostraram que a temperatura influencia no desgaste das cerâmicas. A determinação do volume desgastado possibilitou observar que durante os ensaios a alumina sofre menos desgaste que o nitreto de silício e que o desgaste de ambas cerâmicas aumenta com o aumento da temperatura. / Tribological tests were conducted in a ball on disk setup, using water as lubricant. Were used a silicon nitride ball and alumina disk. The tests were conducted to investigate the effects of sliding speed, applied load and temperature on friction coefficient. The silicon nitride balls and alumina disks were characterized by determining density, Vickers hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness. The tests were conducted with initial roughness on the disk surface of 352 nm. The ultra low friction coefficient regime (ULFC, &#956; < 0.01) was reached after a running-in period of approximately one hour and the friction coefficient remains in the range of &#956; = 0.008 a &#956; = 0.002 during this steady state regime. The results showed that this sliding system has hydrodynamic characteristics, because the friction coefficient decreased with increasing of the sliding speed. With an smooth variation of the applied load the system remained in the ULFC regime, when the applied load varied from 54 N up to 94 N. At temperatures below or equal to 11°C the system did not reach the ULFC regime and the final friction coefficient was the order of hundredths. We observed the ULFC phenomenon at temperatures of 30 and 40°C. However, at these temperatures, the water viscosity is low and should not allow the system to reach the ULFC regime. The data analysis allowed infer that during the ULFC regime the system slides with a mixed lubrication regime, hydrodynamic plus limitrofe, the first due to water film and the second due to the hydrated layer formed on the ceramics surfaces. The results showed a influences of temperature in the ceramics wear. The results of the worn volume allowed to observe that during the tests alumina suffers less wear than the silicon nitride, and the ceramics wear increases with increasing temperature.

Neste trabalho são apresentados resultados da caracterização estrutural e morfológica de filmes de oxinitreto de silício (SiOxNy) depositados pela técnica de deposição química a vapor assistida por plasma (PECVD) a baixa temperatura (320°C). O objetivo deste trabalho é relacionar a composição química de ligas amorfas de SiOxNy com suas propriedades ópticas, estruturais, morfológicas e mecânicas visando sua aplicação em dispositivos elétricos, optoeletrônica e microestruturas. A proposta é dar continuidade a trabalhos prévios desenvolvidos no grupo, que demonstraram a viabilidade de controlar a composição química e, como conseqüência, controlar as propriedades como o índice de refração, constante dielétrica e fotoluminescência de filmes de SiOxNy. As condições de deposição foram ajustadas de forma a obter dois tipos de material: filmes de SiOxNy de composição química controlável entre a do SiO2 e a do de Si3N4 e filmes de SiOxNy com composição rica em Si. O material foi caracterizado pelas técnicas de elipsometria, índice de refração por prisma acoplado, RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), XANES (X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy) na borda K do Si, O e N, medida de stress residual e microscopia eletrônica de varredura (Scanning Electron Microscopy) e de transmissão (Transmission Electron Microscopy). Os resultados mostraram que os filmes com composição química intermediária entre a do SiO2 e a do Si3N4 apresentam arranjo estrutural estável com a temperatura, mantendo as ligações e a estrutura amorfa mesmo após tratamentos térmicos a 1000°C. Também fora demonstrada a possibilidade de obter um material com baixo stress residual e índice de refração ajustável entre 1,46 e 2, resultados ótimos para aplicações em MOEMS (micro-opto-electro- mechanical systems). Já nas amostras ricas em Si foi observada a formação de diferentes fases, sendo uma delas formada por aglomerados de Si e a outra por material constituído por uma mistura de ligações Si-O e Si-N. Este material apresenta a formação de nanocristais de Si, dependendo do conteúdo de Si e das condições do tratamento térmico, permitindo assim, sua aplicação em dispositivos emissores de luz. / In this work results on the morphological and structural characterization of silicon oxynitride (SiOxNy) films deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique (PECVD) at low temperature (320°C) are presented. The main goal is to correlate the chemical composition of amorphous SiOxNy alloys to their optical, structural, morphological and mechanical properties intending applications on electrical, optoelectronic and micromechanical devices. The proposal is to continue previous research developed in this group, which demonstrated the possibility of tuning the chemical composition and, consequently, the SiOxNy films properties such as refractive index, dielectric constant and photoluminescence by the precise control of the deposition parameters. The deposition conditions were adjusted in order to obtain to material types, SiOxNy films with tunable chemical composition between SiO2 and Si3N4 and silicon-rich SiOxNy. The characterization was performed by elipsometry, refractive index by coupled prism, RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy), FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), XANES (X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy) on K edge of Si, O and N, residual stress measurement and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The films with chemical composition between SiO2 and Si3N4 presented stable structural arrangement with temperature, maintaining the chemical bonds and the amorphous structure after high temperature annealing. Also the results demonstrated the possibility of producing a low residual stress material and an adjustable refractive index since in the 1.46 to 2 range, excellent result for MOEMS devices (micro-opto-electro- mechanical systems applications. For silicon rich-samples the formation of different phases was observed, one formed by Si clusters and other one by a mixture of Si-O and Si-N bonds. Depending on the Si content and on the annealing conditions this material can present nanocristals, results which allowed us to understand and to optimize this material for light emitting devices applications.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T14:08:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Roberto Balarini Junior - Parte 1.pdf: 4732272 bytes, checksum: 0c0798e2e5b19f7834c4ce1d56156d8f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-27 / Este trabalho é uma investigação tribológica envolvendo o par cerâmico composto por esferas de nitreto de silício (Si3N4) deslizando contra discos de óxido de alumínio (Al2O3) em água. No total, dez ensaios foram conduzidos com a intenção de reproduzir o fenômeno de Ultra Baixo Coeficiente de Atrito (UBCA) em laboratório, o qual é caracterizado pela obtenção de valores de coeficiente de atrito (&#956;) da ordem dos milésimos (&#956; < 0,01) no regime estacionário. Uma vez alcançado os valores de UBCA, o objetivo principal deste trabalho foi o de investigar o período de running-in, através de uma série de análises em relação ao comportamento do coeficiente de atrito durante o regime transitório, incluindo correlações com algumas variáveis, como rugosidade superficial, erros de batimento axial, íons formados durante o deslizamento e desgaste das cerâmicas. Para isto, as curvas de coeficiente de atrito por tempo foram expandidas para intervalos de tempos pré-determinados e o comportamento de &#956; em cada um destes intervalos foi investigado e comparado entre os ensaios realizados, sendo que o caráter oscilatório do coeficiente de atrito foi inserido nas análises do período transitório. Em geral, foi comprovado que maiores valores de rugosidade superficial resultaram em maiores períodos de running-in e que existe uma tendência de aumento de desgaste com o aumento do tempo de transição. Para todos os ensaios, a taxa de desgaste das esferas de Si3N4 foi superior à dos discos de Al2O3. Em adição, através de comparações entre a medida da soma das rugosidades das superfícies desgastadas com a espessura mínima do filme lubrificante, este trabalho confirma a hipótese de que é necessário um regime de lubrificação misto (hidrodinâmico e limítrofe) para a obtenção do regime de UBCA, sendo que, para a eficácia do modo de lubrificação esperado, estima-se que é necessário concentrações de íons de silício (Si) superiores a 1,3 mg/l, aproximadamente. Esta quantidade de íons Si é supostamente a mínima necessária para a formação de uma camada de sílica adequada para conferir a parcela de lubrificação limítrofe necessária para a obtenção do regime de UBCA / This work is a tribological investigation involving the ceramic pair composed by balls of silicon nitride (Si3N4) sliding against disks of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) under water. A total of ten tests were conducted in order to reproduce the phenomenon of Ultra Low Friction Coefficient (ULFC) in laboratory, which is characterized by obtaining values of friction coefficient (&#956;) below of 0,01 in the steady state. Once reached these values, the main objective of this study was to investigate the running-in period by a series of analyses in relation to the behavior of the friction coefficient during the running-in period, including correlations with some variables such as surface roughness, axial parallelism errors, ions formed during the sliding and wear of samples. For this reason, the curves of friction coefficient versus time were expanded for some predetermined intervals and the behavior of &#956; for each one of these intervals was investigated and compared between themselves, and the oscillatory behavior of the friction coefficient was inserted into the analysis of the running-in period. In general, it was concluded that higher values of surface roughness resulted in longer periods of running-in and that there is a trend of increasing wear with increasing time of transition. For all tests, the wear rate of the silicon nitride balls was higher than alumina disks. In addition, by comparing the measure of the sum of the roughness of the worn surfaces with minimum thickness of the lubricant film, the present work confirms the hypothesis that it is necessary a mixed lubrication (hydrodynamic combined with boundary) to obtain the regime of ULFC and for effective lubrication expected mode it is estimated that is required an ions concentration of silicon (Si) higher than 1.3 mg/l approximately. This amount of ions Si is supposed to be the minimum necessary for the formation of a silica layer enable to confer the boundary lubrication participation for obtaining the ULFC

O objetivo deste trabalho, foi investigar o comportamento tribológico do par cerâmico alumina - nitreto de silício no deslizamento em água com pH controlado e em uma suspensão com diferentes concentrações de sílica coloidal em água, e verificar a possibilidade de atingir um coeficiente de atrito da ordem de milésimos (&#956; < 0,01), aqui chamado de ultra baixo coeficiente de atrito (UBCA) e verificar se a mudança do pH do meio, ou a alteração da concentração de sílica na água, diminui o runningin, tempo necessário para o sistema entrar em regime estacionário, do coeficiente de atrito. Os ensaios foram realizados na configuração de ensaio tribológico esfera contra disco, no qual a esfera foi de nitreto de silício e o disco de alumina, sob carga normal de 54 N e velocidade de deslizamento de 1 m/s. A água utilizada nos ensaios foi destilada e deionizada, e a sílica coloidal amorfa, sem porosidade e de tamanho médio de partícula de 12 nanômetros foi a Aerosil® 200. A esfera de nitreto de silício, adquirida comercialmente, e o disco de alumina, foi proveniente de trabalhos anteriores. Todos os materiais foram caracterizados quanto a densidade. Algumas propriedades mecânicas como dureza, módulo de elasticidade e tenacidade à fratura foram determinadas. Nos ensaios lubrificados com água onde o pH foi controlado, o sistema atingiu o regime com valores de coeficiente de atrito da ordem de milésimos, exceto quando o pH da água era muito baixo ou muito alto. Em hidrossol o coeficiente de atrito chegou a unidades de milésimos, mas quando se aumenta a concentração de sílica coloidal, também, aumenta o desgaste nas superfícies. O disco de alumina sempre apresentou menor desgaste do que a esfera de nitreto de silício, em todas as condições estudadas. / The objective of this work was to investigate the tribological behavior of the ceramic pair alumina-silicon nitride, sliding on the water with controlled pH and in a suspension with different concentrations of colloidal silica in water, and verify the possibility of achieving a friction coefficient in the order of thousandths (&#956; < 0.01), here called ultra low friction coefficient (ULFC) and verify if the change of pH or changing the concentration of silica in the water, decreases the running-in, time required for the system reach the steady state of friction coefficient. The tests were conducted in a pin on disc setup in which the ball was made on silicon nitride and the disc of alumina, under normal load of 54 N and a sliding velocity of 1 m/s. The water used in the experiments was distilled and deionized. The amorphous silica, without porosity and average particle size of 12 nanometers was Aerosil ® 200. The ball of silicon nitride, was purchased commercially, and the alumina disk was recycled from previous works, all materials were characterized by density. Some mechanical properties such as hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness were determined. In tests with controlled pH water the system has reached the friction coefficient of the order of thousandths, except when the pH of the water was too low or too high. In hydrossol the friction coefficient reached units of thousandths, but when increasing the concentration of colloidal silica also increases the wear in the surfaces. The alumina disc always showed less wear than the ball of silicon nitride, in all conditions studied.

This thesis discusses the growth of thin-film silicon layers suitable for solar cells using liquid phase epitaxy and the behaviour of oxide LPCVD silicon nitride stacks on silicon in a high temperature ambient.¶ The work on thin film cells is focussed on the characteristics of layers grown using liquid phase epitaxy. The morphology resulting from different seeding patterns, the transfer of dislocations to the epitaxial layer and the lifetime of layers grown using oxide compared with carbonised photoresist barrier layers are discussed. The second half of this work discusses boron doping of epitaxial layers. Simultaneous layer growth and boron doping is demonstrated, and shown to produce a 35um thick layer with a back surface field approximately 3.5um thick.¶ If an oxide/nitride stack is formed in the early stages of cell processing, then characteristics of the nitride may enable increased processing flexibility and hence the realisation of novel cell structures. An oxide/nitride stack on silicon also behaves as a good anti- reflection coating. The effects of a nitride deposited using low pressure chemical vapour deposition on the underlying wafer are discussed. With a thin oxide layer between the silicon and the silicon nitride, deposition is shown not to significantly alter effective life-times.¶ Heating an oxide/nitride stack on silicon is shown to result in a large drop in effective Lifetimes. As long as at least a thin oxide is present, it is shown that a high temperature nitrogen anneal results in a reduction in surface passivation, but does not significantly affect bulk lifetime. The reduction in surface passivation is shown to be due to a loss of hydrogen from the silicon/silicon oxide interface and is characterised by an increase in Joe. Higher temperatures, thinner oxides, thinner nitrides and longer anneal times are all shown to result in high Joe values. A hydrogen loss model is introduced to explain the observations.¶ Various methods of hydrogen re-introduction and hence Joe recovery are then discussed with an emphasis on high temperature forming gas anneals. The time necessary for successful Joe recovery is shown to be primarily dependent on the nitride thickness and on the temperature of the nitrogen anneal. With a high temperature forming gas anneal, Joe recovery after nitrogen anneals at both 900 and 1000oC and with an optimised anti-reflection coating is demonstrated for chemically polished wafers.¶ Finally the effects of oxide/nitride stacks and high temperature anneals in both nitrogen and forming gas are discussed for a variety of wafers. The optimal emitter sheet resistance is shown to be independent of nitrogen anneal temperature. With textured wafers, recovery of Joe values after a high temperature nitrogen anneal is demonstrated for wafers with a thick oxide, but not for wafers with a thin oxide. This is shown to be due to a lack of surface passivation at the silicon/oxide interface.

A new material system was developed for fabricating the combustion engine of an unmanned aerial vehicle. The material system consisted of a mixture of nanoscale and microscale particles of silicon nitride. Magnesia and yttria were used as sintering additives. The powders were mixed with a paraffin binder system. The binder-powder was analyzed for its properties and molding attributes. The study involved several steps of the development and processing. These steps include torque rheometery analysis, mixing scale-up, property measurements of binder-powder, injection molding, binder removal, sintering, scanning electron microscopy analysis and mechanical properties measurements. Simulations of the injection molding process were conducted to assess the feasibility of manufacturing a ceramic engine and to determine its optimal process parameters. The model building required for the simulation was based on flow and solidification behavior data compiled for the binder-powder mixture. The simulations were performed using the Moldfow software package. A design of experiments approach was set up in order to gain an understanding of critical process parameters as well as identifying a feasible process window. Quality criteria were then analyzed in order to determine the optimal production parameters. The study resulted in the successful development of design parameters that will enable fabrication of silicon nitride engine components by powder injection molding. / Graduation date: 2012

This thesis examines strategies to exploit existing materials and techniques to advance organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology in device performance, device manufacture, and device integration. To enhance device performance, optimization of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) gate dielectric thin film and investigation of interface engineering methodologies are explored. To advance device manufacture, OTFT fabrication strategies are developed to enable organic circuit integration. Progress in device integration is achieved through demonstration of OTFT integration into functional circuits for applications such as active-matrix displays and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. OTFT integration schemes featuring a tailored OTFT-compatible photolithography process and a hybrid photolithography-inkjet printing process are developed. They enable the fabrication of fully-patterned and fully-encapsulated OTFTs and circuits. Research on improving device performance of bottom-gate bottom-contact poly(3,3'''-dialkyl-quarter-thiophene) (PQT-12) OTFTs on PECVD silicon nitride (SiNx) gate dielectric leads to the following key conclusions: (a) increasing silicon content in SiNx gate dielectric leads to enhancement in field-effect mobility and on/off current ratio; (b) surface treatment of SiNx gate dielectric with a combination of O2 plasma and octyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) delivers the best OTFT performance; (c) an optimal O2 plasma treatment duration exists for attaining highest field-effect mobility and is linked to a “turn-around” effect; and (d) surface treatment of the gold (Au) source/drain contacts by 1-octanethiol SAM limits mobility and should be omitted. There is a strong correlation between the electrical characteristics and the interfacial characteristics of OTFTs. In particular, the device mobility is influenced by the interplay of various interfacial mechanisms, including surface energy, surface roughness, and chemical composition. Finally, the collective knowledge from these investigations facilitates the integration of OTFTs into organic circuits, which is expected to contribute to the development of new generation of all-organic displays for communication devices and other pertinent applications. A major outcome of this work is that it provides an economical means for organic transistor and circuit integration, by enabling use of the well-established PECVD infrastructure, yet not compromising the performance of electronics.

This thesis examines strategies to exploit existing materials and techniques to advance organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology in device performance, device manufacture, and device integration. To enhance device performance, optimization of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited (PECVD) gate dielectric thin film and investigation of interface engineering methodologies are explored. To advance device manufacture, OTFT fabrication strategies are developed to enable organic circuit integration. Progress in device integration is achieved through demonstration of OTFT integration into functional circuits for applications such as active-matrix displays and radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. OTFT integration schemes featuring a tailored OTFT-compatible photolithography process and a hybrid photolithography-inkjet printing process are developed. They enable the fabrication of fully-patterned and fully-encapsulated OTFTs and circuits. Research on improving device performance of bottom-gate bottom-contact poly(3,3'''-dialkyl-quarter-thiophene) (PQT-12) OTFTs on PECVD silicon nitride (SiNx) gate dielectric leads to the following key conclusions: (a) increasing silicon content in SiNx gate dielectric leads to enhancement in field-effect mobility and on/off current ratio; (b) surface treatment of SiNx gate dielectric with a combination of O2 plasma and octyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) delivers the best OTFT performance; (c) an optimal O2 plasma treatment duration exists for attaining highest field-effect mobility and is linked to a “turn-around” effect; and (d) surface treatment of the gold (Au) source/drain contacts by 1-octanethiol SAM limits mobility and should be omitted. There is a strong correlation between the electrical characteristics and the interfacial characteristics of OTFTs. In particular, the device mobility is influenced by the interplay of various interfacial mechanisms, including surface energy, surface roughness, and chemical composition. Finally, the collective knowledge from these investigations facilitates the integration of OTFTs into organic circuits, which is expected to contribute to the development of new generation of all-organic displays for communication devices and other pertinent applications. A major outcome of this work is that it provides an economical means for organic transistor and circuit integration, by enabling use of the well-established PECVD infrastructure, yet not compromising the performance of electronics.

The broad theme of the present research investigation is Ion Assisted Deposition of thin films and its effect on the properties of thin films. Though this activity has been of interest to researchers for more than a decade, the development of different types of ion sources with control over the ion flux and energy, makes it a current topic of interest. Ion assisted deposition was successful in depositing thin films of many material with desired qualities, however, there are certain class of materials whose deposition has been rather difficult. This has mainly been attributed to higher energies and low ion flux of conventional ion sources. The advent of ECR ion sources for thin film deposition has given impetus to the deposition of such materials. This is due to the low energy high-density plasma generated in this type of sources. Hitherto, these sources were widely used in PECVD techniques and only recently the importance of ECR sources in PVD techniques has been realized. This thesis is on the development of ECR plasma source for ion assisted deposition of thin films using PVD techniques. This thesis is organized into six chapters. The first chapter gives an introduction on the ion assisted growth of thin films and the importance of ECR plasma. A detailed discussion on various aspects of ECR sources has been included. The design details on the development of ECR source have been discussed in the second chapter. The performance of ECR source as analyzed by the Langmuir probe are also discussed. Variation of plasma parameters like ion density, electron temperature, plasma potential and floating potential as a function of pressure and microwave power have been studied using Langmuir probe analysis. An ion density of the order of 1011/cm3 was measured at a distance of 8 cm from the plasma source with a microwave power of 400 watts. This was comparable to the ion density reported in downstream plasma of ECR sources. The behavior of plasma parameters with variation in microwave power and pressure was explained on the basis of microwave transmission above critical ion density and the microwave power absorption. The uniformity of the plasma parameters at the substrate position (29 cm from the ECR source) was found to be ± 2% over a diameter of 12 cm, which makes the ion source suitable for ion assisted deposition. The third chapter deals with the simulation and experimental study of the ECR sputtering process. ECR sputter type sources are equipped with cylindrical targets. The sputtered flux distribution on the substrate depends on target geometry, sputtering pressure and target-substrate distance. The effect of cylindrical geometry on the distribution of sputtered flux has been simulated by Monte Carlo methods. It is found that the sputtered flux distribution at different pressures and target-substrate distances in ECR sputter type source differs from the conventional glow discharge sputtering system equipped with planar targets. The simulated results are compared with the experimental results. The simulated data agree very well with the experimental data. The deposition and characterization of the TiN thin films for diffusion barrier applications in copper metallization have been discussed in the fourth chapter. Titanium nitride films are prepared by ECR sputtering. The effect of high density ion bombardment on the morphology, orientation and resistivity of the films was studied. It was observed that films with atomic smoothness could be prepared by ECR sputtering. Also the high density ion bombardment has been found to be effective for the film growth in (100) orientation. The behavior of TiN films deposited by this method as a diffusion barrier in copper metallization has been investigated. The resistivity measurements and RBS depth profile studies showed that up to 700°C there is no diffusion of copper into silicon. This shows that ECR sputtered TiN can be used as an effective diffusion barrier in copper metallization. The fifth chapter contains investigations on the ECR assisted growth of silicon nitride films. The films are characterized for composition, morphology and chemical bonding using AES, RBS, AFM, XPS and FTIR. AFM studies revealed that ion bombardment results in the reduction of surface roughness, which indicates dense film growth. The effect of ion assistance on the optical and electrical properties is studied in detail. Films prepared with microwave power ranging from 100 to 200 watts are having bandgap and refractive index of 4.9 eV and 1.92 respectively. Interface state density of silicon nitride films prepared in the above mentioned range was found to be 5x10 10 eVcm2. These films exhibited a resistivity of 10 13 Ω, cm and critical field of 4 MV/cm. The electrical conductivity in these films has been explained on the basis of Poole and Frenkel conduction. The low value of interface state density, higher resistivity, and critical field show that good quality SiN4 films can be deposited with low energy high density ECR plasma. A detailed summary of this research investigation has been discussed in the last chapter. The thesis is concluded with a discussion on the need of focused ECR source to establish ECR assisted deposition as a versatile technique for the growth of thin films.

Als Graphen bezeichnet man eine einzelne freistehende Lage des Schichtkristalls Graphit. Im Gegensatz zur mechanischen Isolation von Graphit bietet die Züchtung auf Siliziumkarbid eine Methode zur großflächigen Herstellung von Graphen. Aufgrund der besonderen physikalischen Eigenschaften werden für Graphen viele verschieden Einsatzmöglichkeiten in diversen Bereichen prognostiziert. Mit seiner hohen Ladungsträgerbeweglichkeit ist Graphen besonders als Kanalmaterial für Feldeffekttransistoren (FET) interessant. Allerdings muss hierfür unter anderem ein geeignetes FET-Isolatormaterial gefunden werden. In dieser Arbeit wird eine detaillierte, theoretische Beschreibung der Graphen-FETs vorgestellt, die es erlaubt die steuerspannungsabhängige Hall-Konstante zu berechnen. Mit der dadurch möglichen Analyse können wichtige Kenngrößen, wie z. B. die Grenzflächenzustandsdichte des Materialsystems bestimmt werden. Außerdem wurden zwei Methoden zur Isolatorabscheidung auf Graphen untersucht. Siliziumnitrid, welches mittels plasmaangeregter Gasphasenabscheidung aufgetragen wurde, zeichnet sich durch seine n-dotierende Eigenschaft aus. Damit ist es vor allem für quasi-freistehendes Graphen auf Siliziumkarbid interessant. Bei der zweiten Methode handelt es sich um einen atomaren Schichtabscheidungsprozess, der ohne eine Saatschicht auskommt. An beiden Graphen- Isolator-Kombinationen wurde die neue Charakterisierung mittels der Hall-Datenanalyse angewandt.