Avoiding blister defects in low-stress hydrogenated amorphous silicon films for MEMS sensors

Wang, Junli; Wu, Lixiang; Chen, Xi; Zhuo, Wen-Jun; Wang, Gaofeng

doi:10.1016/j.sna.2018.04.021

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The shapes of the craters are mostly circular. Similar blisters and craters were reported in the literature for a-Si:H films to be formed during both thermal [11][12][13] and laser [14] annealing processes. Considering one of the observations [11] that "nearly perfectly circular discs pop off the samples" and "their diameters scatter for a given sample less than a factor of 1.5", the geometry of the craters on the electroformed diodes of this work is very similar to those on the annealed films of the previous works.…”

Section: Cross-sectional Sem and Edx Study Of Partially Electroformedsupporting

confidence: 86%

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

Anutgan

Atilgan

2020

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.

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An ordinary amorphous silicon nitride-based p-i-n diode was electroformed under optimized process conditions, which led to its instant transformation to a semiconductor device with two-in-one properties: a bright visible light emitting diode and a resistive memory switching device; i.e. light emitting memory (LEM). In the present work, for a thorough understanding of the changes that occur during electroforming, SEM images and EDX analyses were performed on both top-view and cross-section of both as-deposited and electroformed diodes. It was seen from the top-view images that while the diode surface of the as-deposited diode had a smooth and homogeneous ITO top electrode, the electroformed diode exhibited a rough ITO surface. EDX analyses showed that ITO was completely removed from many point-like regions on the diode surface. Cross-sectional SEM images showed no clue of any material diffusion through the diode structure during electroforming, which was one of the suspected situations about our model. EDX results also showed no considerable increase of any of the ingredients of the ITO alloy (In, Sn or O) across the semiconductor (p-i-n) layers of the electroformed diode. In contrast to the roughened surface of the electroformed diode, the silicon-based layers of the diode below the ITO electrode seemed to be well-preserved. Real-time optical microscopy showed that the light is emitted through the regions of the diode surface where the residual ITO top electrode is present.

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Section: Cross-sectional Sem and Edx Study Of Partially Electroformedsupporting

confidence: 86%

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

Anutgan

Atilgan

2020

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.

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“…Some efforts have been made to understand the microscopic mechanisms determining the rupture of the MeH bonds and formation of H 2 rich voids at the origin of the blisters [6][7][8] in order to get rid of them. For this purpose a method was recently proposed for a-Si:H which is based on the optimization of the shape, size and thickness of the layer [9] . As said above a key parameter is temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion and reaction kinetics governing surface blistering in radio frequency sputtered hydrogenated a-SixGe1-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) thin films

et al. 2019

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The preparation of blister free layers of hydrogenated a-Si x Ge 1-x (0≤ x ≤1) is a primary requisite for their technological applications. In RF (Radio Frequency) sputtered layers the formation of blisters is temperature dependent, as also shown here. This dependence is used to propose a theoretical model aimed at a better understanding of the mechanisms determining the blistering.Beside the reaction kinetics responsible for the release of H atoms from SiH and/or GeH complexes the model takes into particular account the contribution of the diffusion of H. The activation energy for blistering also enters in the model. The validation of the theoretical frame of the model is confirmed by the fact that it predicts a blistering threshold temperature in reasonable agreement with the experiment. The amorphous hydrogenated thin layers were deposited on polished silicon by RF co-sputtering. They were annealed between 150 and 350 °C. The

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“…Although the dielectric constants of a-SiC:H and of a-Si:H depend on the deposition parameters, a-SiC:H generally has a lower microwave r ≈ 7 than the a-Si:H microwave r ≈ 10. The a-SiC:H films do not exhibit blisters, which are a common issue with a-Si:H [21,22]. These properties suggest that a-SiC:H is a promising alternative to a-Si:H and SiN x for superconducting devices.…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide: A Low-loss Deposited Dielectric for Microwave to Submillimeter Wave Superconducting Circuits

Buijtendorp¹,

Vollebregt²,

Karatsu³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Low-loss deposited dielectrics will benefit superconducting devices such as integrated superconducting spectrometers, superconducting qubits and kinetic inductance parametric amplifiers. Compared with planar structures, multi-layer structures such as microstrips are more compact and eliminate radiation loss at high frequencies. Multi-layer structures are most easily fabricated with deposited dielectrics, which typically exhibit higher dielectric loss than crystalline dielectrics. We measured the sub-kelvin and low-power microwave and mm-submm wave dielectric loss of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H), using a superconducting chip with NbTiN/a-SiC:H/NbTiN microstrip resonators. We deposited the a-SiC:H by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a substrate temperature of 400°C. The a-SiC:H has a mm-submm loss tangent ranging from 0.80 ± 0.01 × 10 −4 to 1.43 ± 0.04 × 10 −4 in the range of 270-385 GHz. The microwave loss tangent is 3.2 ± 0.2 × 10 −5 . These are the lowest low-power sub-kelvin loss tangents that have been reported for microstrip resonators at mm-submm and microwave frequencies. We observe that the loss tangent increases with frequency. The a-SiC:H films are free of blisters and have low stress: −20 MPa compressive at 200 nm thickness to 60 MPa tensile at 1000 nm thickness.

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Avoiding blister defects in low-stress hydrogenated amorphous silicon films for MEMS sensors

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

Diffusion and reaction kinetics governing surface blistering in radio frequency sputtered hydrogenated a-SixGe1-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) thin films

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide: A Low-loss Deposited Dielectric for Microwave to Submillimeter Wave Superconducting Circuits

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Avoiding blister defects in low-stress hydrogenated amorphous silicon films for MEMS sensors

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

SEM, EDX spectroscopy and real-time optical microscopy of electroformed silicon nitride-based light emitting memory device

Diffusion and reaction kinetics governing surface blistering in radio frequency sputtered hydrogenated a-SixGe1-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) thin films

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Carbide: A Low-loss Deposited Dielectric for Microwave to Submillimeter Wave Superconducting Circuits

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Diffusion and reaction kinetics governing surface blistering in radio frequency sputtered hydrogenated a-SixGe1-x (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) thin films