We have used a simple self-aligned process to fabricate magnetic tunnel junctions down to submicron sizes. Optical and electron-beam lithographies were used to cover a range of areas spanning five orders of magnitude. The bottom magnetic electrodes (Co or permalloy) in our junctions were exchange biased by an antiferromagnetic layer (MnFe). The top electrodes were made of soft magnetic materials (Co or permalloy). We have consistently obtained large magnetoresistance ratios (15%–22%) at room temperature and in fields of a few tens of Oe. The shape of the field response of the magnetoresistance was varied from smooth to highly hysteretic by adjusting the shape anisotropy of one junction electrode.
The pitting behavior of sputter-deposited Al binary alloy thin films was studied. Pitting and repassivation potentials were determined in 0.1M NaCl for samples in freshly deposited and air-aged states. Aging for several years in laboratory air increased the pitting potential for some of the alloy systems but had no effect on others. The repassivation potentials, meaningful values for pits in thin films, were found to be very close to the pitting potentials of freshly-deposited films for many alloy systems. Stable pits initiate in these Al binary alloys at potentials just above the value at which they would repassivate, indicating that pit growth considerations control the pitting process. By determining the pit anodic current density just before passivation it is shown that alloying improves pitting resistance through a reduction in the ability of pits to maintain the critical local environment necessary for growth. The influences of alloying on the passive film chemistry and on the tendency of the metal to repassivate (depassivation pH) are secondary in nature.Sputter-deposited supersaturated Al binary alloys have been shown to exhibit remarkable pitting resistance in chloride solutions.
We present a 4x4 spatially non-blocking Mach-Zehnder based silicon optical switch fabricated using processes fully compatible with standard CMOS. We successfully demonstrate operation in all 9 unique switch states and 12 possible I/O routing configurations, with worst-case cross-talk levels lower than -9 dB, and common spectral bandwidth of 7 nm. High-speed 40 Gbps data transmission experiments verify optical data integrity for all input-output channels.
The effect of metal film thickness on repassivation of pits in sputter-deposited Al thin films was investigated in chloride solutions. The repassivation potential and the critical current density, which is the pit current density below which pits stop growing, were determined for pits in Al thin films ranging from 100 Ǻ to 43 µm in thickness. The repassivation potential first decreased as thickness increased from 100 to 4350 Ǻ, and then increased as the film thickness increased further. This behavior was found to be a consequence of the pit currentdensity/potential relationship. The critical current density, a more informative parameter, decreased for increasing metal film thickness, even when the repassivation potential increased. The critical current density is the minimum current density needed to maintain the critical pit environment and prevent repassivation. The repassivation potential for a given metal film thickness is the potential at which the pit current density drops below the critical value. Masstransport and ohmic resistance both increase as the metal film thickness increases, but the former enhances pit stability and the latter destabilizes pitting in this system. Pit repassivation, and thus stability, are strongly influenced by mass-transport considerations for pits in very thin pits, even though dissolution at low potentials is not under pure mass-transport control. Ohmic effects become increasingly important as the film thickness increases.
Hydrogenated diamondlike carbon (DLC) and fluorine containing DLC (FDLC) were investigated for their potential applications as low k dielectrics for the back end of the line interconnect structures in ultralarge scale integrated circuits. It was found that the dielectric constant (k) of DLC can be varied between <2.7 and >3.4 by changing the deposition conditions. The thermal stability of the DLC films was found to be correlated to the values of the dielectric constant, decreasing with decreasing k. Only DLC films having dielectric constants k > 3.3 appeared to be stable to anneals of 4 h at 400°C in a nonoxidizing environment. However these films were characterized by stresses higher then 600 MPa. FDLC films, thermally more stable at 400°C than the DLC films with k > 3.3, could be prepared with dielectric constants below 2.7 and internal stresses <200 MPa. Such FDLC films are thus promising candidates as a low k interconnect dielectric.
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