Optical, electrical, and microstructural effects of Ar ion bombardment and Ar incorporation on thermally evaporated Ag and Al thin films were investigated. The results show that as the momentum supplied to the growing films by the bombarding Ar ions per arriving metal atom increases, refractive index at 632.8 nm increases and extinction coefficient decreases, lattice spacing expands, grain size decreases, electrical resistivity increases, and trapped Ar increases slightly. In Ag films, stress reverses from tensile to compressive; in AI films compressive stress increases. In both films, the change in optical constants can be explained by variation in void volume. The reversal of stress from tensile to compressive in Ag films requires a threshold level of momentum. The increase in electrical resistivity is related to the increase in the void fraction, decrease in the grain size, and increase in trapped Ar in both types of films. Many of these properties correlate well with the momentum transferred, suggesting that the momentum is an important physical parameter in describing the influence of ion beams on growing thin films and determining the characteristics of thin metal films prepared by ion-assisted deposition (IAD). With a low energy ion beam, the Ar concentration in IAD Ag films was negligible. When the bombarded film thickness was less than 5 nm, the electrical resistivity of IAD Ag films tended to decrease slightly from that of the non-IAD film. Using the Bruggeman effective medium theory, a formula for the void fraction at any given wavelength was derived. We investigated optical properties, stoichiometry, chemical bonding states, and structure of aluminum oxynitride thin films prepared by reactive ion-assisted deposition. Variations of optical constants and chemical bonding states are related to the stoichiometry. We found that our amorphous aluminum oxynitride film is not simply a mixture of aluminum oxide and nitride but a compound. A rugate filter using a step-index profile of aluminum oxynitride films was fabricated by nitrogen ion beam bombardment of a growing Al film with backfilled oxygen pressure as the sole variable. The effects of ultrasound-assisted deposition (UAD) on the optical properties of ZrO₂, Ta₂O₅, and MgF₂ films were investigated. UAD is likely to induce oxygen and fluoride deficiencies in oxide and fluoride films and increase the packing density of films.

Transport imaging is a SEM-based technique used to directly image the motion and recombination of charge in luminescent semiconductors, allowing for the extraction of transport parameters critical to device operation. In this thesis, transport imaging for 1D structures was initiated with work on sample preparation, modeling and initial characterization. One dimensional structures are being integrated into forefront electronics due to their inherent advantages in size, packing density and power consumption. In this work the one dimensional equation for steady state minority carrier recombination distribution solved for the Gaussian source is derived and results from numerical simulations are presented. The diameter of the SEM beam is determined experimentally allowing for accurate simulation parameters. Intensity and drift measurements on four batches of top-down wire structure samples, fabricated on a AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs double heterostructure using a FIB, are presented. Significant decreases in luminescence in FIB exposed regions are reported. Spatial luminescence from single bottom-up GaN and ZnO nanowires deposited by metal initiated metal-organic CVD on Au and SiO2 substrates is imaged. CL spectra for GaN and ZnO, with peak intensities at 3.27 and 3.29 eV, are characterized. Finally, several suggestions for further research are offered including transport imaging on contacted bottom-up nanowires and a potential application of transport imaging to FIB damage characterization.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong ,2001. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2003. / Adviser: Ronald B. Goldner. Submitted to the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Includes bibliographical references. Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

One of two project reports. Part B can be found at: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/18523 / Recent measurements of the sputtering of frozen gases by MeV ions gave yields several orders of magnitude greater than predicted by collision cascade theory. Only a "thermal spike" model, invoking a coupling of electronic excitation to nuclear motion, agrees qualitatively with experimental results. Yields of 300 keV to 2 MeV ions ranging in mass from 4 a.m.u. to 40 a.m.u. were investigated for ice, Kr and Xe films in the temperature range of 15°K to 120°K. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

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Metallic bilayer samples of Mo(400 Å)/ Al(substrate) were characterized using Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy after first being irradiated with Xe ion beam having an energy of 1.8 MeV. The computer code RUMP was then used to simulate the RBS spectra. The interdiffusion at the interface was considered in terms of thermal spike induced atomic migration. It was found that the coupling of the chemical effect with spike is significant with regard to mixing of the bilayer samples. Furthermore, in addition to the initial contamination of carbon atoms on the surface and at the interface, more carbon atoms were found to be picked up by the surface, this carbon w.as from the vacuum pumps and tended to migrate into the surface once irradiation dose exceeded 11 x 10¹⁵cm². A semi-empirical model was developed for ion beam mixing taking into account collisional mixing and thermal spike effects, as well as the thermal spike shape. The collisional mixing part was accounted for by the Kinchin-Pease model, or, alternatively dynamic Monte Carlo simulation. For the thermal spike, the ion beam mixing parameter Dt/Φ was derived to be proportional to ( - F_D /ΔH_coh)^2+μ, where F_D is the damage energy deposited per unit path length, ΔH_coh is the cohesive energy of the target materials, and µ is a constant dependent on the spike shape and point defect density in the spike regions. The thermal spike introduces a nonlinear effect in the mixing process, distinguishing itself from the linear effect of ballistic mixing. The shape of the thermal spike that best fit the experimental results depends on the magnitude of the cascade density. For relatively high density collisional cascades, where thermal spikes start to be important, it was found that a spherical spike model was more consistent with experimental measurements at low temperatures. However, for extremely high density collisional cascade regions, a cylindrical shaped spike gave better results. The atomic migration energy in the spike regions is scaled by a factor of one out of 8.6 of cohesive energy. The migration mechanism was recognized to be interstitial-dominated one. / M.S.