Deep understanding of the dependence between Cu surface wettability and C-adsorption/desorption

Mitigating Contamination with Nanostructure-Enabled Ultraclean Storage

“…Clean surfaces, free of molecular contaminants that can influence measurements or processing, are essential for applications sensitive to surface chemistry and those requiring precise nanoscale fabrication, including semiconductor manufacturing as the industry shifts toward the 3 nm process, microfluidic analytical devices in which accuracy is greatly affected by the adsorption of molecules on the testing surface, and the fundamental analysis of surface properties for novel classes of materials. − Airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs), typically hydrocarbons, represent a common contaminant which profoundly affects surface chemical composition by partially or completely passivating surfaces, thereby impacting wettability, adhesion, charge doping, and other surface properties, and consequently limiting fabrication procedures or altering intended performance. − Specific examples include: (i) fabrication defects resulting from organic molecules adsorbed on wafer surfaces, (ii) deterioration of the spectral performance of antireflective coatings in optical components for laser systems, , (iii) marked suppression of the electrowetting response of graphite from the adsorption of impurities, and (iv) reduced transition speed of light-induced superhydrophilicity on TiO 2 films in the presence of organic adsorbates . Moreover, this ubiquitous and often-overlooked source of contamination leads to inconsistent experimental results, posing challenges for the design of experiments and data analysis for fundamental studies. − In fact, due mainly to confusion resulting from adsorbed VOCs, researchers have been debating the intrinsic surface wettability of a wide range of materials (2D materials, − rare earth oxides, − silicon dioxide, and metals and metal oxides) for decades.…”