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Metal induced crystallization (MIC) is a technique that lowers the crystallization temperature of amorphous semiconductors. The process has mainly been used to influence the crystallization of amorphous silicon (a-Si) and multiple studies on this subject have already been performed. The research of the MIC of amorphous Ge (a-Ge) has been mostly limited to the use of a Ni or Al film. This paper focuses on the characterization of the crystallization behavior of a-Ge films in the presence of 20 transition metals (Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Re, Fe, Ru, Co, Rh, Ir, Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, and Al). The kinetics of the crystallization process are also systematically studied for the seven metals that lower the initial crystallization temperature the most. In addition, the influence of the thickness of the metal film was determined for the case of a Au and Al film. A comparison of the influence of the various metals on a-Ge and a-Si is made and the similarities and differences are discussed using existing models for the MIC process

In this work, the reaction mechanism used in the preparation of fluorine-free superconducting YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7-delta) (YBCO) was investigated. To determine which precursor interactions are dominant, a comprehensive thermal analysis (thermogravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis) study was performed. The results suggest that a three step reaction mechanism, with a predominant role for BaCO(3), is responsible for the conversion of the initial state to the superconducting phase. In the presence of CuO, the decarboxylation of BaCO(3) is kinetically favored with the formation of BaCuO(2) as a result. BaCuO(2) reacts with the remaining CuO to form a liquid which ultimately reacts with Y(2)O(3) in a last step to form YBCO. High temperature X-ray diffraction experiments confirm that these results are applicable for thin film synthesis prepared from an aqueous fluorine-free sol-gel precursor.

We demonstrate for the first time record low Leakage-EOT (3.5x10 -7 A/cm 2 at 1V, EOT=0.49 nm) MIM capacitors fabricated using a low temperature (250 o C) ALD SrTiO 3 (STO) deposition process on ALD TiN bottom electrode. While most previous work on STO used deposition techniques not compatible with high aspect ratio DRAM applications, recent work on ALD STO showed promise on noble-like metal electrodes (Ru, Pt) [1,2]. In this work, a low temperature ALD process with alternative precursor set and carefully optimized deposition and processing conditions enables the use of low-cost, manufacturablefriendly TiN electrode MIMcaps for future DRAM nodes. Composition (Sr-rich) and process optimization allowed minimization of interfacial EOT penalties and leakage reduction by decreasing the density of leakier STO grains. IntroductionMIMcaps with EOTs 0.5 nm and low leakage are required for future DRAM nodes. Alternatives beyond ZrO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 are needed. STO is a promising candidate, but much of previous work focused on nonconformal deposition techniques. As exception, ALD STO using Sr(thd) 2 precursor for Sr has been reported [1,2] with promising results on noble like metal electrodes such as Ru and Pt. However, these processes required either high deposition temperature and/or post-deposition anneals in oxidizing ambients [1,2], making STO incompatible with TiN. By using an alternative ALD precursor system and optimizing carefully deposition variables, composition and post-deposition processing, we demonstrate for the first time excellent results for STO/TiN.