Loughborough University
Browse
Thesis-1993-Hall.pdf (17.46 MB)

Control of the properties of semiconducting thin films deposited using magnetron sputtering

Download (17.46 MB)
thesis
posted on 2013-08-09, 13:25 authored by Gareth W. Hall
The objective of the work was to deposit semiconducting thin films with controlled properties using unbalanced reactive magnetron sputtering. It was decided to utilise this technique because it offers high deposition rate and controllable in-situ ion bombardment of the growing film, desirable attributes from both research and production perspectives. Sputtering from a metal cathode in a reactive gas atmosphere introduces process instabilities which can result in a low degree of control over the stoichiometry, optical, electrical and structural properties of the films. Whilst the focus of the study was to achieve repeatable control over semiconducting film properties, additional areas of interest associated with the reactive sputtering process were investigated as the project developed. Improvements in magnetron design have been made to remove iron contamination from the extended poles, at the same time improving cathode utilisation. A new technique of bonding polycrystalline silicon cathodes to cooling shims has been developed using a sputtered threemetal multilayer process. DC sputtering of silicon in the presence of oxygen, nitrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, and nitrogen and air has been used to produce films of refractive index between 2.27 and 1.45 at rates between 0.5 and 2 nms-1 depending on composition. Refractive index and optical transmittance of the films have been closely controlled by varying gas flow and composition, and substitution of air for oxygen increased the sensitivity so that indices of oxy-nitride films could be tailored to one decimal place. The deposition of Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) onto glass substrates has been investigated, using a feedback control loop to control the otherwise unstable process...cont'd

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Physics

Publisher

© Gareth William Hall

Publication date

1993

Notes

A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.

EThOS Persistent ID

uk.bl.ethos.357071

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Physics Theses

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC