Optical and chemical characterization of expanding thermal plasma-deposited carbon-containing silicon dioxide-like films

Optical Characterization of Plasma‐Deposited SiO2‐Like Layers on Anisotropic Polymeric Substrates

“…The hypothesis on the increase in layer density is supported by the comparison of the n amb with the n vac values as function of the DC: the n amb are always higher than the n vac values, due to water absorption in the open pores of the layer ($n_{{\rm H}_{{\rm 2}} {\rm O}} $ = 1.33), but, as the DC increases, less water uptake occurs due to the on‐going film densification process and the difference between the two series becomes negligible. Note that the refractive index value of the layer deposited at a DC of 2%: carbon‐containing SiO 2 ‐like layers are known to be characterized by a higher refractive index than carbon‐free SiO 2 ‐like layers, as extensively investigated in ref 5. The decrease in refractive index from a DC of 2% to a DC of 5%, therefore, is due to the quantitative decrease (approximately a factor of three) of the carbon content, followed by the increase in refractive index trend, due to the gradual removal of porosity in the SiO 2 ‐like layers with the DC.…”

“…The determination of the optical properties of thin films is nowadays acknowledged as fundamental in thin film characterization. Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) measurements, usually performed in reflection mode at one or more angles of incidence, are widely carried out in applications ranging from optical and tribological to electrical and moisture/oxygen diffusion barrier coatings 1–9. Among these, polymer characterization has received much attention and an example are the works of Drevillon and coworkers10, 11 and Martinu and coworkers12, 13 focusing on the study of plasma‐induced polymer surface modification and of the adhesion of plasma‐deposited thin films on polymer substrates (i.e., polycarbonate and polypropylene) by means of IR10 and UV–Vis11 SE measurements, also performed in situ 12.…”

The role of carrier gas flow in roll-to-roll AP-PECVD synthesized silica moisture barrier films

“…, an associated silanol peak at 3450 cm −1 and the HeOH stretch peak attributed to interaction with adsorbed water on the sample at 3250 cm −1 [32,[43][44][45]. The spectra depicted in Fig.…”

Nitric Acid Oxidation Method to Form a Gate Oxide Layer in Sub-Micrometer TFT

“…Moreover, the density of interface states for direct oxidation is much lower than that for deposition methods because of nearly complete interfacial bond formation. The density of a SiO 2 layer formed by direct oxidation methods is higher than that for deposition methods [10], leading to better electrical characteristics. Direct oxidation methods can form a uniform thickness SiO 2 layer even on rough Si surfaces such as poly-Si thin films [11] if the oxidation rate is independent of surface orientations.…”