The concept of effective film thickness for the determination of bond concentrations from IR spectra of weakly absorbing thin films on silicon

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 7395-7399 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Brendel
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Ir Spectra

Effects of substrate on determination of hardness of thin films by nanoscratch and nanoindentation techniques

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1791-1802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noureddine Tayebi ◽  
Andreas A. Polycarpou ◽  
Thomas F. Conry
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Elastic Recovery ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Residual Deformation ◽  
Substrate Effect ◽  
Nanoindentation Technique ◽  
Film Substrate ◽  
Composite Hardness

A comparative study on the effects of the substrate on the determination of hardness of thin films by the use of the nanoscratch and nanoindentation techniques was conducted. Gold films deposited on fused quartz substrates and silicon dioxide films deposited on aluminum substrates with variant film thicknesses were investigated. These two systems correspond to a soft film on a hard substrate and a hard film on a soft substrate, respectively. The effect of substrate interaction on the measurement of hardness using the nanoscratch technique was found to be less pronounced compared to that of the nanoindentation technique due to: (i) the lower normal loads applied to achieve the penetration depths that occur at higher loads when using the nanoindentation method; (ii) the direct imaging of the residual deformation profile that is used in the nanoscratch technique, which allows for the effects of pileup or sink-in to be taken into account, whereas in the nanoindentation technique the contact area is estimated from the load-displacement data, which does not include such effects; and (iii) the account of elastic recovery of the plastically deformed surfaces from scratch tests. The film thickness did not appear to have any effect on the hardness of Au and SiO2 films obtained from nanoscratch data. This observation allowed, for the case of SiO2 films, the determination of the “free substrate effect region” and the derivation of an empirical relationship that relates the composite hardness of the film/substrate system to the contact-depth-to-film-thickness ratio, even when the indenter penetrates into the substrate. Such findings can allow for the determination of the intrinsic hardness of ultrathin hard films (∼1–5 nm thick), where the substrate effect is unavoidable.

The Determination of Elemental Composition, Thickness and Crystalline Phases in Single and Multi-Layer Thin Films

1989 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 197-204
Author(s):  
R. A. Brown ◽  
K. Toda ◽  
R. L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Elemental Composition ◽  
Crystalline Phases ◽  
Film Composition ◽  
Layer Thin Film

The purpose of this paper is to show how XRD and XRF can be used as complimentary tools to determine multi-layer thin film composition, both elemental and crystalline, as well as film thickness.

scholarly journals Current Opportunities and Challenges in Biopolymer Thin Film Analysis—Determination of Film Thickness

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Spirk ◽  
Chonnipa Palasingh ◽  
Tiina Nypelö
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Polymer Thin Films ◽  
Cellulose Nanofibrils ◽  
Thin Film Thickness ◽  
Thin Film Analysis ◽  
Biopolymer Film ◽  
Analysis Determination

Polymer thin films with thickness below 100 nm are a fascinating class of 2D materials with commercial and research applications in many branches ranging from coatings to photoresists and insulating materials, to mention just a few uses. Biopolymers have extended the scope of polymer thin films with unique materials such as cellulose, cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanofibrils with tunable water uptake, crystallinity and optical properties. The key information needed in thin biopolymer film use and research is film thickness. It is often challenging to determine precisely and hence several techniques and their combinations are used. Additional challenges with hydrophilic biopolymers such as cellulose are the presence of humidity and the soft and often heterogenous structure of the films. This minireview summarizes currently used methods and techniques for biopolymer thin film thickness analysis and outlines challenges for accurate and reproducible characterization. Cellulose is chosen as the representative biopolymer.

scholarly journals Determination of Dielectric Constant of Stearic Acid Films Using Varying Gap Immersion Method

1977 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. K. Agarwal ◽  
B. Ichijo
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Dielectric Constant ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Stearic Acid ◽  
Reasonable Agreement ◽  
Langmuir Films ◽  
Immersion Method ◽  
Experimental Tool ◽  
High Degree

The dielectric constant data (at 3.5 MHz) on stearic acid thin films, obtained by using variable gap immersion method, are presented. Many of the errors of the conventional universal bridge method are eliminated in the method used here. It is also shown that the varying gap immersion method serves as an experimental tool for simultaneous determination of film thickness with high degree of accuracy. The data on evaporated as well as Langmuir films of stearic acid (≥1000 Å) are found to be consistent and in reasonable agreement.

Determination of yielding and debonding in Al–Cu thin films from residual stress measurements via diffraction

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 950-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.J. Shute ◽  
J.B. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Residual Stress ◽  
Film Thickness ◽  
Void Formation ◽  
Thickness Dependence ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Thin Polycrystalline ◽  
Si Wafer

The yield strength and interfacial bonding are properties of interest for understanding void formation in thin film interconnect and subsequent failure of VLSI devices. A method is presented to examine the mechanical properties of thin polycrystalline films attached to substrates by measuring the change in thermal residual stress, due to the difference in coefficient of expansion between the film and substrate, as a function of decreasing temperature of the sample. The yield strengths of passivated 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 μm thin films of Al–2% Cu on oxidized Si wafer substrates have been determined with this method to be 325, 170, and 120 MPa, respectively. Unpassivated films of the same thicknesses were also examined, but yielding did not occur for these films even though the residual stress reached a value of over 400 MPa. The lack of yielding in the unpassivated samples and the thickness dependence of the passivated samples is attributed to the grain size of these materials, which is less than the film thickness for the unpassivated case and greater than the film thickness after passivation. Debonding occurred in the 2 μm unpassivated sample but in none of the others, indicating a thickness dependence of the energy for delamination.

Interactions Between Al and Cr Thin Films

1976 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 638-639
Author(s):  
R. M. Anderson ◽  
T. M. Reith ◽  
M. J. Sullivan ◽  
E. K. Brandis
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Vacuum System ◽  
Processing Temperature ◽  
Diffusion Couples ◽  
Electronic Circuits ◽  
Intermetallic Formation ◽  
Si Substrates ◽  
Aluminum Silicon

Thin films of aluminum or aluminum-silicon can be used in conjunction with thin films of chromium in integrated electronic circuits. For some applications, these films exhibit undesirable reactions; in particular, intermetallic formation below 500 C must be inhibited or prevented. The Al films, being the principal current carriers in interconnective metal applications, are usually much thicker than the Cr; so one might expect Al-rich intermetallics to form when the processing temperature goes out of control. Unfortunately, the JCPDS and the literature do not contain enough data on the Al-rich phases CrAl7 and Cr2Al11, and the determination of these data was a secondary aim of this work.To define a matrix of Cr-Al diffusion couples, Cr-Al films were deposited with two sets of variables: Al or Al-Si, and broken vacuum or single pumpdown. All films were deposited on 2-1/4-inch thermally oxidized Si substrates. A 500-Å layer of Cr was deposited at 120 Å/min on substrates at room temperature, in a vacuum system that had been pumped to 2 x 10-6 Torr. Then, with or without vacuum break, a 1000-Å layer of Al or Al-Si was deposited at 35 Å/s, with the substrates still at room temperature.

Determination of Stoichiometry of GaAs Component in (Gaas)Ge Epitaxially Grown Thin Films by Electron Microprobe X-Ray Analysis

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 264-265
Author(s):  
D. R. Liu ◽  
S. S. Shinozaki ◽  
R. J. Baird
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Thin Films ◽  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Compound Semiconductors ◽  
Energy Dispersive Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Metastable Alloys ◽  
Lower Voltage

The epitaxially grown (GaAs)Ge thin film has been arousing much interest because it is one of metastable alloys of III-V compound semiconductors with germanium and a possible candidate in optoelectronic applications. It is important to be able to accurately determine the composition of the film, particularly whether or not the GaAs component is in stoichiometry, but x-ray energy dispersive analysis (EDS) cannot meet this need. The thickness of the film is usually about 0.5-1.5 μm. If Kα peaks are used for quantification, the accelerating voltage must be more than 10 kV in order for these peaks to be excited. Under this voltage, the generation depth of x-ray photons approaches 1 μm, as evidenced by a Monte Carlo simulation and actual x-ray intensity measurement as discussed below. If a lower voltage is used to reduce the generation depth, their L peaks have to be used. But these L peaks actually are merged as one big hump simply because the atomic numbers of these three elements are relatively small and close together, and the EDS energy resolution is limited.

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