Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-158).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-132). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M. S.)--Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Hess, Dennis, Committee Member ; Teja, Amyn, Committee Member ; Kohl, Paul, Committee Chair ; Allen, Sue Ann Bidstrup, Committee Co-Chair.

Thesis (M.S. in materials science and engineering)--Washington State University, May 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis reports the first detailed study of the stoichiometry control mechanisms and physical properties of ZnO films deposited by dc planar magnetron sputtering of a Zn target in a reactive Ar/0₂ atmosphere. Control of film stoichiometry was achieved using a subsidiary rf discharge at the substrate and a reactive gas baffle surrounding the target. The reactive gas baffle was shown to enhance film oxidation by decreasing the metal flux to the substrate and increasing the oxygen partial pressure near the substrate. Rutherford backscattering analysis of film stoichiometry demonstrated that the effect of the rf discharge was to increase the O/Zn composition ratio. This oxidation was shown to occur through preferential resputtering and preferential evaporation of excess Zn and by activation and ion plating of oxygen species. Resputtering and evaporation rates were found to be enhanced above that expected for bulk Zn, due to the weak bonding of surface adatoms during film growth. Conducting ZnO films produced at various values of the rf-induced substrate bias voltage were characterized for electrical, optical and structural properties using Hall probe,. X-ray diffraction, electron microscope, and visible and infrared spectroscopy techniques. Films deposited at low substrate bias (0 to -50V) were found to have a large Zn excess (15%) resulting in low electron mobilities (1 cm²/Vs), high resistivities (10⁻² Ωcm) and were strongly absorbing in the visible. Films deposited at high substrate bias were nearly stoichiometric, optically transparent and had high electron mobilities (15 cm²/Vs) resulting in low resistivity (10⁻³ Ωcm). The optical properties of transparent conducting films for wavelengths 0.4 to 20 /im were modelled by the Drude theory of free electrons using measured electrical transport properties. The original goal of this work, to develop a heat mirror coating suitable for manufacture, was achieved by bias sputter deposition of ZnO onto uncooled polyester sheet at deposition rates approaching 75 nm/min. The best heat mirror films had a transmission to solar energy of 75% and an 85% reflection of 300 K blackbody radiation. / Science, Faculty of / Physics and Astronomy, Department of / Graduate

<p> High-density plasma technology is becoming increasingly attractive for the deposition of dielectric films such as silicon dioxide, silicon nitride and silicon oxynitride. In particular, inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) offers several technological advantages for low temperature processing over other plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), such as higher plasma density, lower hydrogen content films, and lower cost. A new ICP-CVD system has been set up at McMaster University. </p> <p> The project focused on the calibration of this system and the establishment of its performance characteristics. A combination of 0 2/ Ar/SiH4 gases was used to deposit Si02 thin films on single-crystal Si wafers under various conditions. Substrate temperatures were calibrated from 200 to 400°C, and were found to linearly relate to heater temperatures. Calibration of the minimum reflected power showed that the ICP source is efficient to generate a stable plasma for 02, N2 and Ar gases within a wide range of flow rates from 3 to 1 OOsccm, while the reflected power remains below 10 Watts. Uniformity was found to be sensitive to many factors. Under optimal conditions, uniformity could be controlled better than 1% with a good shape of thickness distribution. The refractive indexes of the deposited films were measured with ellipsometry and showed an inverse relation with the ratio of oxygen to silane flow rate. </p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-146).

In-situ x-ray photoemission (XPS) and ex-situ FTIR studies of nanoporous organosilicate glass (OSG) films point to the separate roles of radicals vs. VUV photons in the carbon abstraction. The studies indicate that reaction with O2 in presence of VUV photons (~123 nm) result in significant carbon abstraction within the bulk and that the kinetics of this process is diffusion-limited. In contrast, OSG exposed to atomic O (no VUV) results in Si-C bond scission and Si-O bond formation, but this process is self-limiting after formation of ~1 nm thick SiO2 surface layer that inhibits further diffusion. Therefore, the diffusion-dominated kinetics of carbon abstraction observed for OSG exposed to O2 plasma is definitively attributed to the diffusion of O2 down OSG nanopores, reacting at photo-activated sites, rather than to the diffusion of atomic O. Pretreatment of OSG by 900 eV Ar+ ion bombardment also results in formation of 1 nm thick SiO2-like surface overlayer that inhibits O2 diffusion, inhibiting VUV+O2 and O2 plasma-induced reactions, and that the effectiveness of this treatment increases with ion kinetic energy. On the contrary, organosilicate glass (OSG) films with backbone carbon (-Si-R-Si-) exhibit significantly enhanced resistance to carbon loss upon exposure to O2 plasma, radicals and VUV+O2 compared to films with terminal methyl groups (Si-CH3). Films incorporating backbone carbon chains (-Si-R-Si-) were deposited from 1,2 bis (triethoxysilyl) ethane (BTESE) precursor by ebeam or plasma cross-linking. The radical effects on BTESE film indicates negligible carbon loss or Si oxidation, combined with C-O bond formation, under conditions where OSG films with terminal methyl groups exhibit > 80% carbon loss within the surface region of the film. C-O bond formation is never observed for terminal CH3 groups. Further, backbone carbon (-Si-R-Si-) films exposed to VUV+O2 exhibit self-limiting, minimal net carbon loss. This indicates that plasma-induced Si-C bond rupture still occurs in the linking unit, but with a low probability of simultaneous rupture of both Si-C bonds required for abstraction of an in-line methylene bridging group. The data thus demonstrate that OSG films containing backbone carbon groups exhibit greatly reduced rates of carbon loss in the presence of O2 plasma, radicals or VUV+O2 compared to films with terminal carbon groups due to fundamentally different patterns of Si-C bond scission. The results demonstrate the potential of backbone carbon low-k films to resist plasma induced damage.