Device-quality copper and nickel films were deposited onto planar and etched silicon substrates by the reduction of soluble organometallic compounds with hydrogen in a supercritical carbon dioxide solution. Exceptional step coverage on complex surfaces and complete filling of high-aspect-ratio features of less than 100 nanometers width were achieved. Nickel was deposited at 60 degrees C by the reduction of bis(cyclopentadienyl)nickel and copper was deposited from either copper(I) or copper(II) compounds onto the native oxide of silicon or metal nitrides with seed layers at temperatures up to 200 degrees C and directly on each surface at temperatures above 250 degrees C. The latter approach provides a single-step means for achieving high-aspect-ratio feature fill necessary for copper interconnect structures in future generations of integrated circuits.

No abstract

No abstract

Gram-scale quantities of microcrystalline powdered CeO 2 -ZrO 2 solid solutions can be produced continuously in a nearcritical water flow reactor at ca. 300 °C and 25 MPa; rapid hydrothermal co-precipitation leads to nano-particulate Ce 12x Zr x O 2 (x = 0 to 1), the composition of which is merely determined by the initial concentrations of Ce 4+ and Zr 4+ ions in the starting solution.

No abstract