In-Situ Investigation of Cu-In-Se Reactions by Thin Film Calorimetry

1997 ◽  
Vol 485 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wolf ◽  
G. Müller

AbstractStudies of the reaction path during annealing of Cu-In-Se thin films for solar cell absorbers have been limited up to now to ex-situ analyses of the phase composition by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) after processing by a specific temperature-time program. As an indirect method, the application of ex-situ XRD is not sufficient for the determination of reaction temperatures and reaction times for setting up a general model of CIS-formation.We show in this paper that the use of a calorimetric method (Thin Film Calorimetry, TFC) offers the advantage of a direct (in-situ) observation of thin film reactions. Special care is taken to use film thicknesses of practical interest for industrial application (1.5 – 3 μm). In a first step we show results of binary reactions in the Cu-In, In-Se and Cu-Se systems. Their knowledge is necessary for understanding the processes involved in the ternary CIS-layers. It turned out that thin Cu-In and Cu-Se films react already at room temperature and behave as predicted by the bulk equilibrium phase diagrams during heating. In-Se thin films show prominent exothermic reactions starting with the melting of In. The first phase to be formed is generally In2Se which is then converted to more Se-rich compounds. In ternary Cu-In-Se films (Cu/In = 1.00) we observe transitions of the Cu-Se-system which can be attributed to the decomposition of CuSe2 and CuSe. Consequences for the model of improved CIS-growth by a Cu-Se flux agent are discussed.

Author(s):  
K. Barmak

Generally, processing of thin films involves several annealing steps in addition to the deposition step. During the annealing steps, diffusion, transformations and reactions take place. In this paper, examples of the use of TEM and AEM for ex situ and in situ studies of reactions and phase transformations in thin films will be presented.The ex situ studies were carried out on Nb/Al multilayer thin films annealed to different stages of reaction. Figure 1 shows a multilayer with dNb = 383 and dAl = 117 nm annealed at 750°C for 4 hours. As can be seen in the micrograph, there are four phases, Nb/Nb3-xAl/Nb2-xAl/NbAl3, present in the film at this stage of the reaction. The composition of each of the four regions marked 1-4 was obtained by EDX analysis. The absolute concentration in each region could not be determined due to the lack of thickness and geometry parameters that were required to make the necessary absorption and fluorescence corrections.


1989 ◽  
Vol 151 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Baumgart ◽  
B. Hillebrands ◽  
J. V. Harzer ◽  
G. Güntherodt

The in-situ observation of magnetostatic spin waves by Brillouin spectroscopy offers a versatile dynamical probe for the investigation of magnetic properties of thin films. The measured spin wave spectra of thin films contain a variety of information about their magnetic as well as structural properties. The frequency of a spin wave allows to determine, e.g., the g-factor, the magnetic anisotropy constants and also the saturation magnetization. The spectral line shape allows conclusions about the film quality, i.e., steps or islands. Furthermore, the unidirectional propagation of the surface spin wave with respect to the magnetization allows to measure the coercitivity field of a film. The latter can be used as an additional characterization parameter of a magnetic film.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C724-C724
Author(s):  
Christoph Genzel

The most important advantage of energy dispersive (ED) diffraction compared with angle dispersive methods is that the former provides complete diffraction patterns in fixed but arbitrarily selectable scattering directions. Furthermore, in experiments that are carried out in reflection geometry, the different photon energies E(hkl) of the diffraction lines in an ED diffraction pattern can be taken as an additional parameter to analyze depth gradients of structural properties in the materials near surface region. For data evaluation advantageous use can be made of whole pattern methods such as the Rietveld method, which allows for line profile analysis to study size and strain broadening [1] or for the refinement of models that describe the residual stress depth distribution [2]. Concerning polycrystalline thin films, the features of ED diffraction mentioned above can be applied to study residual stresses, texture and the microstructure either in ex-situ experiments or in-situ to monitor, for example, the chemical reaction pathway during film growth [3]. The main objective of this talk is to demonstrate that (contrary to a widespread opinion) high energy synchrotron radiation and thin film analysis may fit together. The corresponding experiments were performed on the materials science beamline EDDI at BESSY II which is one of the very few instruments worldwide that is especially dedicated to ED diffraction. On the basis of selected examples it will be shown that specially tailored experimental setups allow for residual stress depth profiling even in thin films and multilayer coatings as well as for fast in situ studies of film stress and microstructure evolution during film growth.


2006 ◽  
Vol 326-328 ◽  
pp. 689-692
Author(s):  
Seung Jae Moon

The thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin films is determined by using the non-intrusive, in-situ optical transmission measurement. The thermal conductivity of a-Si is a key parameter in understanding the mechanism of the recrystallization of polysilicon (p-Si) during the laser annealing process to fabricate the thin film transistors with uniform characteristics which are used as switches in the active matrix liquid crystal displays. Since it is well known that the physical properties are dependent on the process parameters of the thin film deposition process, the thermal conductivity should be measured. The temperature dependence of the film complex refractive index is determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. A nanosecond KrF excimer laser at the wavelength of 248 nm is used to raise the temperature of the thin films without melting of the thin film. In-situ transmission signal is obtained during the heating process. The acquired transmission signal is fitted with predictions obtained by coupling conductive heat transfer with multi-layer thin film optics in the optical transmission measurement.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Hu ◽  
Junlan Wang ◽  
Zijian Li ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
Yushan Yan

Nanoporous silica zeolite thin films are promising candidates for future generation low-dielectric constant (low-k) materials. During the integration with metal interconnects, residual stresses resulting from the packaging processes may cause the low-k thin films to fracture or delaminate from the substrates. To achieve high-quality low-k zeolite thin films, it is important to carefully evaluate their adhesion performance. In this paper, a previously reported laser spallation technique is modified to investigate the interfacial adhesion of zeolite thin film-Si substrate interfaces fabricated using three different methods: spin-on, seeded growth, and in situ growth. The experimental results reported here show that seeded growth generates films with the highest measured adhesion strength (801 ± 68 MPa), followed by the in situ growth (324 ± 17 MPa), then by the spin-on (111 ± 29 MPa). The influence of the deposition method on film–substrate adhesion is discussed. This is the first time that the interfacial strength of zeolite thin films-Si substrates has been quantitatively evaluated. This paper is of great significance for the future applications of low-k zeolite thin film materials.


MRS Advances ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (37) ◽  
pp. 2635-2640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Moatti ◽  
Reza Bayati ◽  
Srinivasa Rao Singamaneni ◽  
Jagdish Narayan

ABSTRACTBi-epitaxial VO2 thin films with [011] out-of-plane orientation were integrated with Si(100) substrates through TiO2/TiN buffer layers. At the first step, TiN is grown epitaxially on Si(100), where a cube-on-cube epitaxy is achieved. Then, TiN was oxidized in-situ ending up having epitaxial r-TiO2. Finally, VO2 was deposited on top of TiO2. The alignment across the interfaces was stablished as VO2(011)║TiO2(110)║TiN(100)║Si(100) and VO2(110) /VO2(010)║TiO2(011)║TiN(112)║Si(112). The inter-planar spacing of VO2(010) and TiO2(011) equal to 2.26 and 2.50 Å, respectively. This results in a 9.78% tensile misfit strain in VO2(010) lattice which relaxes through 9/10 alteration domains with a frequency factor of 0.5, according to the domain matching epitaxy paradigm. Also, the inter-planar spacing of VO2(011) and TiO2(011) equals to 3.19 and 2.50 Å, respectively. This results in a 27.6% compressive misfit strain in VO2(011) lattice which relaxes through 3/4 alteration domains with a frequency factor of 0.57. We studied semiconductor to metal transition characteristics of VO2/TiO2/TiN/Si heterostructures and established a correlation between intrinsic defects and magnetic properties.


1995 ◽  
Vol 403 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Akasaka ◽  
D. He ◽  
I. Shimizu

AbstractHigh quality polycrystalline silicon was made on glass from fluorinated precursors by two step growth, i.e., (1) formation of seed crystals on glass by layer-by-layer(LL) technique and (2) grain-growth on the seeds. In LL technique, deposition of ultra-thin films and treatment with atomic hydrogen was repeated alternately. Columnar grains with 200 nm dia were grown epitaxy-like on the seeds by optimizing the deposition parameters under in situ observation with spectroscopic ellipsometry.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document