A preliminary study of SF6 based inductively coupled plasma etching techniques for beta gallium trioxide thin film

Beta phase Gallium trioxide (β-Ga₂O₃) thin film was grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technology. Mixture gases of SF₆ and Ar were used for dry etching of β-Ga₂O₃ thin film by inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The effect of SF₆/Ar (etching gas) ratio on etch rate and film etching damage was studied. The etching rate and surface roughness were measured using F20-UN thin film analyzer and atomic force microscopy showing that the etching rate in the range between 30 nm/min and 35 nm/min with an improved surface roughness was obtained when the reactive mixed gas of SF₆/Ar was used. The analysis of X-ray diffraction and transmission spectra further confirmed the non-destructive crystal quality. This work demonstrates that the properly proportioned mixture gases of SF₆/Ar is suitable for the dry etching of β-Ga₂O₃ thin film by ICP and can serve as a guide for future β-Ga₂O₃ device processing.     

Effect of NaOH solution on surface textured ZnO: Al films prepared by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering

Transparent conducting Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al, AZO) thin films were prepared at substrate temperature of 270 °C by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering. NaOH solution (5 wt%) was employed to etch the AZO films at room temperature, and the surface textured AZO films were obtained successfully. The relationship between the surface textured structures and the etching process controlled by etching time was discussed. The textured morphology of the etched AZO films became clear as increasing the etching time, and the AZO film etched for 30 min exhibited uniformly and distinctly crater-like surface textured structure. Correspondingly, the haze and the resistivity increased with the increasing etching time. And the resistivity of the AZO film etched for 30 min was 3.2×10⁻³ Ω cm.     

A study of the role of HBr and oxygen on the etch selectivity and the post-etch profile in a polysilicon/oxide etch using HBr/O2 based high density plasma for advanced DRAMs

The role of HBr and oxygen on the etch selectivity and the post-etch profile in a polysilicon/oxide etch using HBr/O₂ based high density plasma was studied. HBr/O₂-based polysilicon etch process used in this study seems to be highly selective to the underlying oxide and produce a dielectric fill-friendly post-etch profile depending on the flow rates of HBr and oxygen. When appropriate amounts of HBr and oxygen (∼30 sccm of HBr and ∼3 sccm of oxygen) are present in the etch plasma, brominated silicon oxide seems to be deposited on the original gate oxide and the gate stack sidewall from the reaction of SiBr_x (reaction product during polysilicon etch step) and oxygen during the HBr/O₂-based oxide etch process. The deposited brominated oxide on the thin gate oxide seems to make the HBr/O₂-based plasma etch process extremely selective to the thin gate oxide by protecting the underlying gate oxide. The deposited brominated oxide on the gate stack sidewall seems to prevent the notching by protecting the sidewall during gate stack etching. The etch rate of the brominated oxide seems to be much faster than that of the thermal oxide during the 200:1 diluted HF cleaning. However, the deposited brominated oxide on the thin gate oxide and the gate stack sidewall during the plasma etching survived the following 1 min 200:1 diluted HF cleaning, as was observed in a TEM micrograph (Fig. 2(a)).     

The enhancement of electrical and optical properties of PEDOT:PSS using one-step dynamic etching for flexible application

The conductivity enhancement of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) by dynamic etching process was investigated to introduce the outstanding and simplest method for soft electronics. Four different samples which were pristine PEDOT:PSS, PEDOT:PSS doped with 5 wt.% DMSO, PEDOT:PSS with dipping process, and PEDOT:PSS with dynamic etching process were prepared to compare the properties such as conductivity, morphology, relative atomic percentage, and topography. All samples were characterized by four point probe, current atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV–visible spectroscopy. The conductivity of the sample with dynamic etching process showed the highest value as 1299 S/cm among four samples. We proved that the dynamic etching process is superior to remove PSS phase from PEDOT:PSS film, to flow strong current through entire surface of PEDOT:PSS, and to show the smoothest surface (RMS 2.28 nm). XPS analysis was conducted for accurate chemical and structural surface environments of four samples and the relative atomic percentage of PEDOT in the sample with dynamic etching was the highest as 29.5%. The device performance of the sample with the dynamic etching process was outstanding as 10.31 mA/cm² of J_sc, 0.75 eV of V_oc, 0.46 of FF, and 3.53% of PCE. All properties and the device performance for PEDOT:PSS film by dynamic etching process were the most excellent among the samples.     

Effect of processing parameter on structural,optical and electrical properties of photovoltaic chalcogenide nanostructured RF magnetron sputtered thin absorbing films

The aim of this work was to develop high quality of CuIn_1−xGa_xSe₂ thin absorbing films with x (Ga/In+Ga)<0.3 by sputtering without selenization process. CuIn_0.8Ga_0.2Se₂ (CIGS) thin absorbing films were deposited on soda lime glass substrate by RF magnetron sputtering using single quaternary chalcogenide (CIGS) target. The effect of substrate temperature, sputtering power & working pressure on structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of deposited films were studied. CIGS thin films were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV–vis–NIR spectroscopy and four probe methods. It was observed that microstructure, surface morphology, elemental composition, transmittance as well as conductivity of thin films were strongly dependent on deposition parameters. The optimum parameters for CIGS thin films were obtained at a power 100 W, pressure 5 mT and substrate temperature 500 °C. XRD revealed that thin film deposited at above said parameters was polycrystalline in nature with larger crystallite size (32 nm) and low dislocation density (0.97×10¹⁵ lines m⁻²). The deposited film also showed preferred orientation along (112) plane. The morphology of the film depicted by FE-SEM was compact and uniform without any micro cracks and pits. The deposited film exhibited good stoichiometry (Ga/In+Ga=0.19 and In/In+Ga=0.8) with desired Cu/In+Ga ratio (0.92), which is essential for high efficiency solar cells. Transmittance of deposited film was found to be very low (1.09%). The absorption coefficient of film was ~10⁵ cm⁻¹ for high energy photon. The band gap of CIGS thin film evaluated from transmission data was found to be 1.13 eV which is optimum for solar cell application. The electrical conductivity (7.87 Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹) of deposited CIGS thin film at optimum parameters was also high enough for practical purpose.     

Pentacene thin film transistors fabricated by solution process with directional crystal growth

We have fabricated solution-processed pentacene thin film transistor arrays with mobilities as high as 1.0 cm²/V s, evaluated at a low drain voltage of ?10 V. This is achieved by controlling the growth direction of the pentacene films from solution, and by optimizing conditions for drop casting. Crystal growth of the solution-processed pentacene films is found to proceed in one direction on a tilted substrate. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction reveal that the crystal growth azimuth corresponds to the direction along the minor axis of the a–b plane in the unit cell of the pentacene crystal. This directional growth method is extended to solution processing on large glass substrates with an area of 150 × 150 mm², thereby yielding transistor arrays with two-dimensional uniformity and high carrier mobility.     

Electric conduction of PbBr-based layered perovskite organic–inorganic superlattice having carbazole chromophore-linked ammonium molecule as an organic layer

We have successfully prepared thin films of PbBr-based layered perovskite having hole-transporting carbazole chromophore-linked ammonium molecules as an organic layer by a simple spin-coating from the N,N-dimethylformamide solution in which the stoichiometric amount of lead bromide and carbazole-linked ammonium bromides was dissolved. Their X-ray diffraction profiles exhibited that their layer structure formed (0 0 n)-orientation, where c-axis is perpendicular to the substrate plane. Their layer structure depended on the alkyl chain length of ammonium molecules. When methylene length of C₅H₁₀ was employed in the carbazole-linked ammonium molecules, highest orderliness of the layer structure was attained; higher-order X-ray diffraction peaks were observed in the layered perovskite films. In the layered pervskite film, in-plane conduction, namely conduction in the direction of the stacking of carbazole chromophore, was measured. For comparison, conductivity of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVCBz) thin film was also measured. The conductivity of the layered perovskite thin film (1.8 × 10^?10 Scm^?1 at 303 K) was about three order of magnitude larger than that of the PVCBz thin film (5.3 × 10^?14 Scm^?1 at 303 K). Despite the much higher conductivity of the layered peroskite thin film, the activation energy of the conductivity of the layered perovskite thin film (1.44 eV) was about 2.4 times larger than that of the PVCBz thin film (0.61 eV). This phenomenon is probably due to difference in film morphology through considering the results of AFM observation.     

Tensile strain ultra thin body SiGe on insulator through hetero-layer transfer technique

The ultra thin body (UTB) SiGe on insulator (SGOI) substrate with body thickness of only 5 nm has been fabricated by hetero-layer transfer technique with highly selective wet etching. According to Raman spectroscopy, UTB-SiGe layer with Ge fraction of 67% and +1% partially tensile strain was transferred onto the SiO₂/Si host substrate without the strain degradation. To present the feasibility of UTB-SGOI substrate, a well-behaved performance of 2-μm-gate-length normally off UTB-SGOI nMOSFET has also been demonstrated.     

Isotropic wet chemical etching of deep channels with optical surface quality in silicon with HNA based etching solutions

Online trace analysis based on UV/Vis spectroscopy requires long detection paths. Therefore an isotropic wet etch process in silicon is developed to fabricate a 300 µm deep channel with low channel wall roughness for desired light guidance application. Four etchant compositions were compared in terms of etching rate, surface roughness and selectivity in a beaker process. The best fitting mixture was selected. To further increase the surface quality (bubble issue) a spin etcher tool is used for producing the channels. The dependence of homogeneity and defect density on media flux, and rotation velocity was investigated. Results show that high rotation velocity and high media flux lead to great defects in the channel wall. Through rotation of the wafer during etching, the etching rate of silicon rises compared to the beaker process due to the rapid removal of etch products and simultaneous supply of fresh etchant. After 38 min of etching, 300 µm deep semi-circular channels with high optical quality (Rq=10 nm±2 nm) over 3 m were produced.     

Investigation of oxide layer on CdTe film surface and its effect on the device performance

In this work, the chemical evolution of CdTe crystal and thin film under air exposure was investigated by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). In particular, the analysis of Te 3d core level allowed us to characterize the surface oxidation. Indeed, in both cases and after a short air exposure, the Te 3d peaks exhibited clearly two components corresponding to Te–Cd and Te–O, i.e. bulk CdTe and native oxide. The later one was used to estimate an equivalent oxide layer thickness. Only a weak oxide amount could be observed on both fresh surfaces, whereas after two days of air exposure, the native oxide thickness was estimated to 2.2 nm and 0.9 nm for CdTe crystal and thin film respectively. For a longer exposition time of one month, the oxide layer thickness increased in both cases up to 7.2 and 5.9 nm, for CdTe crystal and thin film respectively. Even, if the oxidation kinetic appeared slower in the case of CdTe thin film, such insulating oxide layer formation at CdTe surface under air exposure might have negative effect on the ohmic back contact formation and further electrical characteristics of solar cells. Next to this study, aged CdTe samples were submitted to a chemical etching after several days of air exposure and before solar cell fabrication. It appeared that solar cell based on ‘aged CdTe layer’ after etching exhibit electrical performances similar to those obtained with a freshly elaborated CdTe device. Therefore, CdTe chemical etching appears as an effective way to remove the surface oxide layer and retrieve good cell performances. As a result, it is possible to store CdTe films for long duration before solar cells fabrication.     

Sapphire substrate-transferred nitride-based light-emitting diode fabricated by sapphire wet etching technique

In order to investigate the influence of a sapphire substrate on the GaN-based light-emitting diode (LED) performance, sapphire-etched vertical-electrode nitride-based semiconductor (SEVENS) LEDs are fabricated by a sapphire wet etching technique. The performance of SEVENS-LEDs is substantially dependent on the presence of sapphire substrate. The light-output power of a SEVENS-LED with a microroughened surface structure and without a sapphire substrate (type-A) is not saturated up to a junction current as high as 300 mA, constituting a notable improvement relative to that (250 mA junction current) of SEVENS-LEDs with a 5 μm-thick sapphire substrate (type-B). The 200 mA light-output power of type-A SEVENS-LED is 1.8 times stronger than that of type-B SEVENS-LED. With increasing junction current, the variation of the peak wavelength is less for the type-A SEVENS-LED than for the type-B SEVENS-LED. These results imply that even a thin sapphire substrate on the SEVENS-LED affects the heat dissipation characteristic at high injection levels.     

Thickness dependent physical properties of chemically deposited nanocrystalline MgSe thin films deposited at room temperature by solution growth method

Chemical bath deposition method has been employed to deposit nanocrystalline magnesium selenide thin films of thickness 104–292 nm onto glass substrates at room temperature. The deposition bath consists of magnesium chloride, triethanolamine (TEA) and selenium dioxide. The as deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), optical absorption, electrical resistivity and thermo-emf measurements. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that the crystallinity of the magnesium selenide thin film increases with thickness. SEM studies reveal that MgSe films exhibit uniform distribution of round shaped grains over the entire substrate surface.The optical band-gap and electrical resistivity of MgSe film decrease as the film thickness increases. Such type of dependence is attributed to the quantum size effect that is observed in nanocrystalline semiconductors.The thermo-emf measurement confirms its p-type conductivity.     

Chemically deposited ZnS thin film as potential X-ray radiation sensor

In this article X-ray radiation sensitivity of ZnS thin film prepared by a chemical bath deposition technique has been reported. The films were prepared under 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 molarity (M). Characterization reports show that the 0.20 M film has the best quality than the other low molarity films. I-V characteristics of the films were studied under dark condition and observed that the film prepared at 0.20 M has an electrical conductivity of 2.06×10⁻⁶ (Ω cm)⁻¹ which is about 10 times greater than the other lower molarity films. Further, the I-V characteristic of this film has studied under UV and X-ray radiations. The current under X-ray radiation is found to be significantly higher than that under the UV radiation. At a fix bias voltage of 1.0 V, the conductivity under UV radiation is found to be 3.26×10⁻⁶ (Ω cm)⁻¹ whereas that under the X-ray is 4.13×10⁻⁵ (Ω cm)⁻¹. The sensitivity under X-ray radiation is significantly greater than that under the UV radiation. This analysis suggests that the ZnS thin film which is used as a UV radiation sensor can also be used as a potential X-ray radiation sensor.     

Effect of doping concentration on the properties of bismuth doped tin sulfide thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Bismuth doped tin sulfide (SnS:Bi) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis technique at the substrate temperature of 350 °C. The effect of doping concentration [Bi/Sn] on their structural, optical and electrical properties was investigated as a function of bismuth doping between 0 and 8 at%. The XRD results showed that the films were polycrystalline SnS with orthorhombic structure and the crystallites in the films were oriented along (111) direction. Atomic force microscopy revealed that the particle size and surface roughness of the films increased due to Bi-doping. Optical analysis exhibited the band gap value of 1.40 eV for SnS:Bi (6 at%) which was lower than the band gap value for 0 at% of Bi (1.60 eV). The film has low resistivity of 4.788×10⁻¹ Ω-cm and higher carrier concentration of 3.625×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ was obtained at a doping ratio of 6 at%.     

Effect of substrate temperature on structural,morphological, optical and electrical properties of MnIn2S4 thin films prepared by nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique

Manganese indium sulphide (MnIn₂S₄) thin films were deposited using an aqueous solution of MnCl₂, InCl₃ and (NH₂)₂CS in the molar ratio 1:2:4 by simple chemical spray pyrolysis technique. The thin film substrates were annealed in the temperature range between 250 and 350 °C to study their various physical properties. The structural properties as studied by X-ray diffraction showed that MnIn₂S₄ thin films have cubic spinel structure. The formation of cube and needle shaped grains was clearly observed from FE-SEM analysis. The energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) predicts the presence of Mn, In and S in the synthesized thin film. From the optical studies, it is analyzed that the maximum absorption co-efficient is in the order between 10⁴ and 10⁵ cm⁻¹ and the maximum transmittance (75%) was noted in the visible and infrared regions. It is noted that, the band gap energy decreases (from 3.20 to 2.77 eV) with an increase of substrate temperature (from 250 to 350 °C). The observations from photoluminescence studies confirm the emission of blue, green, yellow and red bands which corresponds to the wavelength range 370–680 nm. Moreover, from the electrical studies, it is observed that, as the substrate temperature increases the conductivity also increases in the range 0.29–0.41×10⁻⁴ Ω⁻¹ m⁻¹. This confirms the highly semiconducting nature of the film. The thickness of the films was also measured and the values ranged between 537 nm (250 °C) to 483 nm (350 °C). This indicates that, as the substrate temperature increases, the thickness of the film decreases. From the present study, it is reported that the MnIn₂S₄ thin films are polycrystalline in nature and can be used as a suitable ternary semiconductor material for photovoltaic applications.     

Evaporated iron disulfide thin films with sulfurated annealing treatments

FeS₂ thin films were grown on a glass substrate using a physical vapor deposition technique at room temperature. Subsequently, the thin films were annealed in two different atmospheres: vacuum and vacuum-sulfur. In the vacuum-sulfur atmosphere a graphite box was used as sulfur container and the films were sulfurated successfully at 200–350 ºC. It was found that annealing in a vacuum-sulfur atmosphere was indispensable in order to obtain polycrystalline FeS₂ thin films. The polycrystalline nature and pure phase were determined by XRD and Raman techniques and the electrical properties by the Hall effect. Using the sulfurating technique, the n-type semiconductor was prepared at 200–350 °C and a p-type at 500 °C. The carrier concentrations were between 1.19×10²⁰ and 2.1×10²⁰ cm⁻³. The mobility was 9.96–5.25 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and the resistivity was 6.31×10⁻² to 1.089×10⁻² Ω cm. The results obtained from EDS showed that the films prepared in the vacuum-sulfur atmosphere were close to stoichiometric and that the indirect band gap varied between 1.03 and 0.945 eV.     

Deposition of aluminum oxide-doped zinc oxide transparent nano-films on glass substrates for electrostatic discharge applications

Aluminum oxide-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al₂O₃) transparent thin films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering on glass substrates; film thickness can be correlated with deposition time. The effect of ZnO:Al₂O₃ film thickness on electrical properties, ultraviolet (UV) transmission, surface morphology and structure, solvent resistance, and scratch hardness was investigated. The surface roughness and crystallite size of deposited films increased from 0.75 to 2.22 nm and from 14 to 57 nm, respectively, as the film thickness was increased from 18 to 112 nm. In contrast, the percent UV transmission (% T) of ZnO:Al₂O₃ deposited glass plates at a wavelength of 365 nm increased when the film thickness was decreased. The electrical properties of nano-film deposited glass plates such as electrical resistance, tribo-charge voltage, and decay time were in the range of electrostatic discharge (ESD) specifications. The ZnO:Al₂O₃ nano-film deposited glass substrate possessed good acetone and iso-propanol resistance as well as high scratch hardness. This work opens up the possibility of using the ZnO:Al₂O₃ transparent ultra-thin film on glass substrate in ESD applications based on their excellent properties in terms of the relatively thin and adjustable ZnO:Al₂O₃ film thickness needed.     

TiSiOx gate dielectrics produced by reactive sputtering for high performance InGaZnO thin film transistors

High dielectric constant TiSiOx thin films are produced by reactive sputtering under different oxygen partial pressure ratio (P_O2) from 15% to 30%. All the TiSiOx films show an excellent transmittance value of almost 95%. The TiSiOx film has a low leakage current density by optimizing oxygen partial pressure, and the leakage current density of TiSiOx film under P_O2 of 20% is 4.88×10⁻⁷ A/cm² at electrical field strength of 2 MV/cm. Meanwhile, their associated InGaZnO thin-film transistors (IGZO-TFTs) with different P_O2 TiSiOx thin films as gate insulators are fabricated. IGZO-TFTs under P_O2 of 20% shows an optimized electrical performance, and the threshold voltage, sub-threshold swing, field effect mobility and I_on/I_off ratio of this device are 2.22 V, 0.33 V/decade, 29.3 cm²/V s and 5.03×10⁷, respectively. Moreover, the density of states (DOS) is calculated by temperature-dependent field-effect measurement. The enhancements of electrical performance and temperature stability are attributed to better active/insulator interface and smaller DOS.     

Self-aligned flexible organic thin-film transistors with gates patterned by nano-imprint lithography

Many applications that rely on organic electronic circuits still suffer from the limited switching speed of their basic elements – the organic thin film transistor (OTFT). For a given set of materials the OTFT speed scales inversely with the square of the channel length, the parasitic gate overlap capacitance, and the contact resistance. For maximising speed we pattern transistor channels with lengths from 10 μm down to the sub-micrometre regime by industrially scalable UV-nanoimprint lithography. The reduction of the overlap capacitance is achieved by minimising the source–drain to gate overlap lengths to values as low as 0.2 μm by self-aligned electrode definition using substrate reverse side exposure. Pentacene based organic thin film transistors with an exceptionally low line edge roughness <20 nm of the channels, a mobility of 0.1 cm²/Vs, and an on–off ratio of 10⁴, are fabricated on 4″ × 4″ flexible substrates in a carrier-free process scheme. The stability and spatial distribution of the transistor channel lengths are assessed in detail with standard deviations of L ranging from 185 to 28 nm. Such high-performing self-aligned organic thin film transistors enabled a ring-oscillator circuit with an average stage delay below 4 μs at an operation voltage of 7.5 V.