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The ability to do thin film processing has been established at UCF. This paper describes the facilities available. RF and DC sputtering was used for material deposition. The parameters for both were established experimentally, and the results are presented. Resistor and capacitor test patterns were used to test the accuracy of the system. The devices were fabricated and tested; experimental results are discussed.

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thin films of alumina were deposited on ferrite (NiₓZn₍₁₋ₓ₎Fe₂O₄), glass, single crystal silicon and graphite substrates by RF sputtering. Though standard, amorphous Al₂O₃ films are readily soluble in hot phosphoric acid, these sputtered films exhibited only reluctant etchability by the acid. Experiments were initially performed to understand the parameters in the sputtering process which were influential in the formation of unetchable films. The results showed that a high concentration of water vapor or oxygen molecules in the sputtering chamber during deposition was the most significant variable controlling the growth of unetchable films. The films were categorized according to their degree of solubility in H₃PO₄ and were examined using various microanalytical characterization techniques. TEM analysis directly showed the existence of crystalline γ-Al₂O₃ in the film at the film-substrate interface. The γ-Al₂O₃ phase grew with a preferred orientation coincident with the substrate orientation--as in heteroepitaxial growth. The occurrence of this film phase was related to the oxygen partial pressure, the substrate material, and the substrate temperature and was believed to be the cause of the film's incomplete etching behavior.

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) thin films offer attractive mechanical and electrical properties. The synthesis of cBN films have been deposited using both physical and chemical vapor deposition methods, which generate internal residual, stresses that result in delamination of the film from substrates. Boron nitride films were deposited using electron beam evaporation without bias voltage and nitrogen bombardment (to reduce stresses) were characterize using FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, and AFM techniques. In addition, a pin-on-disk tribological test was used to measure coefficient of friction. Results indicated that samples deposited at 400°C contained higher cubic phase of BN compared to those films deposited at room temperature. A BN film containing cubic phase deposited at 400°C for 2 hours showed 0.1 friction coefficient.

Xu Yan = 納米銅(銅的氧化物)與三氧化二鋁復合物薄膜的製備和特性研究 / 許燕. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51). / Text in English; abstracts in English and Chinese. / Xu Yan = Na mi tong (tong de yang hua wu) yu san yang hua er lv fu he wu bo mo de zhi bei he te xing yan jiu / Xu Yan. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.ii / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Table of Contents --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.viii / List of Tables --- p.xi / Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Nanostructured Materials --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Objective of this Work --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- Background / Chapter 2.1 --- Correlation of AES-CuLMM spectrum and Cu nanocluster size --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Typical AES-CuLMM spectra --- p.3 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- A simplified model --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- correlation of AES-CuLMM spectra and the simplified model --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- Previous works --- p.5 / Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- Instrumentation / Chapter 3.1 --- Sputtering --- p.6 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Principles of sputtering --- p.6 / Chapter 3.1.1.1 --- Concepts of sputtering --- p.6 / Chapter 3.1.1.2 --- Initiating the plasma --- p.8 / Chapter 3.1.1.3 --- Depositing a film onto the substrate --- p.8 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.2.1 --- RF sputtering --- p.9 / Chapter 3.1.2.2 --- Magnetron Sputtering --- p.10 / Chapter 3.2 --- Deposition system --- p.10 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Instrumentation --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- Vacuum system --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- Sputter target and power supplies --- p.12 / Chapter 3.2.1.3 --- Substrate mounting --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Experimental --- p.13 / Chapter 3.3 --- X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Basic Principles --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Instrumentation --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Qualitative and quantitative analysis --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Spectra interpretations --- p.17 / Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- X-ray emission line width --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3.3.3 --- Qualification --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3.3.3.1 --- Chemical composition --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3.3.3.2 --- Sputter depth profiling --- p.18 / Chapter 3.3.3.3.3 --- Auger parameter --- p.19 / Chapter 3.4 --- Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) --- p.19 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- An overview of TEM --- p.19 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Imaging mode and diffraction mode --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Electron-Specimen interactions --- p.21 / Chapter 3.4.3.1 --- Elastic scattering --- p.22 / Chapter 3.4.3.2 --- Inelastic scattering --- p.22 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Imaging mechanisms for TEM --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4.4.1 --- Mass-thickness contrast --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4.4.2 --- Diffraction contrast --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4.5 --- TEM sample preparation --- p.25 / Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- Chemical and Structure Characterization of Cu(CuOx)/Al2O3 Composite Thin Films / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2 --- Results and discussions --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Set I: Achieving the stoichiometry of A1203 matrix --- p.26 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Set II: keeping A1203 stoichiometry and studying on the correlation of CuLMM spectra and average Cu cluster size --- p.32 / Chapter 4.2.2.1 --- Chemical information obtained by XPS --- p.32 / Chapter 4.2.2.2 --- Nanostructure studied by TEM --- p.38 / Chapter 4.2.2.3 --- Mechanical properties inspected by nano-indentation --- p.43 / Chapter 4.2.2.4 --- Optical properties --- p.43 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Set III: Duration of deposition --- p.44 / Chapter 4.2.4 --- Set VI: Pressure effect on the average size of Cu nanoclusters --- p.45 / Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- Conclusions --- p.48 / References --- p.50