Optical emission spectroscopy as a tool for studying, optimizing, and monitoring plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition processes

Abstract

Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers)Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Optical emission spectroscopy as a tool for studying, optimizing, and monitoring plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition processes In this note it is demonstrated that optical emission spectroscopy ͑OES͒ is an easy-to-implement and valuable tool to study, optimize, and monitor thin film growth by plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition ͑ALD͒. The species in the plasma can be identified through the analysis of the light emitted by the plasma. OES provides therefore information on the reactant species delivered to the surface by the plasma but it also yields unique insight into the surface reaction products and, as a consequence, on the reaction mechanisms of the deposition process. Time-resolved measurements reveal information about the amount of precursor dosing and length of plasma exposure needed to saturate the self-limiting half reactions, which is useful for the optimization of the ALD process. Furthermore, time-resolved OES can also be used as an easy-to-implement process monitoring tool for plasma-assisted ALD processes on production equipment; for example, to monitor reactor wall conditions or to detect process faults in real time.

Optically monitoring and controlling nanoscale topography during semiconductor etching

“…Thus, point-measurement techniques such as spectroscopic ellipsometry, 1-4 phase-sensitive ellipsometry, 5 laser reflectometry, 6,7 multi-beam interferometry, 8,9 and emission spectroscopy 10,11 have been successfully implemented. Typically, the structure height is measured at a single point or region of interest and information across the wafer is inferred assuming the process is uniform.…”

Status and prospects of Al2O3-based surface passivation schemes for silicon solar cells

“…Figure 12 shows the presence of CO * , H * , and OH * emission in the plasma. 134 When the spectrum is recorded after a sufficiently long purge time, the emission associated with C and H fragments can only originate from a monolayer of -CH 3 ligands at the growth interface. However, when reducing the purge time below 3.5 s, we observe an increase in the emission of CO * , H * , and OH * as shown in Fig.…”

Plasma-Assisted ALD for the Conformal Deposition of SiO2: Process, Material and Electronic Properties

“…32 However, plasma-assisted ALD also allows investigation of the optical emission spectrum during the plasma step. 38 Figure 10 shows two optical emission spectra, one for a plasma step during ALD (recorded immediately after plasma ignition) and one for a regular O 2 plasma without preceding precursor dosing step. + ).…”