Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T17:27:46.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A new method for the determination of the diffusion-induced concentration profile and the interdiffusion coefficient for thin film systems by Auger electron spectroscopical sputter depth profiling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2004

J.Y. Wang  and
E.J. Mittemeijer
J.Y. Wang*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
E.J. Mittemeijer
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A new Auger electron spectroscopical sputter depth profiling method was developed to determine the interdiffusion coefficient for the initial stage of diffusion annealing of thin films. The method is based on (i) adoption of an interdiffusion model appropriate for the specimen investigated and (ii) convolution of an accordingly calculated diffusion-induced concentration profile with the smearing effects due to atomic mixing, surface/interface roughness, escape depth of the Auger electrons, and preferential sputtering. The diffusion-induced concentration profile and the interdiffusion coefficient are determined by fitting in an iterative least-squares procedure of the calculated Auger electron spectroscopical depth profile to the measured one. The method was applied to bilayered and multilayered structures, exhibiting dominant grain-boundary diffusion and dominant volume diffusion, respectively. A very small extent of interdiffusion, characterized by diffusion distances as small as 1 nm, could be quantified.

Keywords

Auger electron spectroscopy (AES)DiffusionThin film
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 19 , Issue 11 , November 2004 , pp. 3389 - 3397
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Hall, P.M. and Morabito, J.M.: A formalism for extracting diffusion coefficient from concentration profiles. Surf. Sci. 54, 79 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Zalar, A., Hofmann, S., Pimentel, F. and Panjan, P.: Interfacial reactions and silicide formation in Si/Ni/Si and Si/Cr/Si sandwich layers. Surf. Interface Anal. 21, 560 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Bukaluk, A.: Analysis of diffusion mechanisms in thin polycrystalline Au-Ag films using Auger electron spectroscopy. Surf. Interface Anal. 5, 20 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Pamler, W.: Application of Auger electron depth profile analysis to thin film interdiffusion study. Appl. Phys. A 42, 219 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Swart, H.C., Jonker, A.J., Claassens, C.H., Chen, R., Venter, L.A., Ramoshebe, P., Wurth, E., Terblans, J.J. and Roos, W.D.: Extracting inter-diffusion parameters of TiC from AES depth profiles. Appl. Surf. Sci. 205, 231 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Wang, J.Y., Hofmann, S., Zalar, A. and Mittemeijer, E.J.: Quantitative evaluation of sputtering induced surface roughness in depth profiling of polycrystalline multilayers using Auger electron spectroscopy. Thin Solid Films 444, 120 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Wang, J.Y., Zalar, A. and Mittemeijer, E.J.: Depth dependences of the ion bombardment induced roughness and of the interdiffusion coefficient for Si/Al multilayers. Appl. Surf. Sci. 222, 171 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Hofmann, S.: Atomic mixing, surface roughness and information depth in high-resolution AES depth profiling of a GaAs/AlAs superlattice structure. Surf. Interface Anal. 21, 673 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9Hofmann, S.: Sputter depth profile analysis of interfaces. Rep. Prog. Phys. 61, 827 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Wang, J.Y., Zalar, A., Zhao, Y.H. and Mittemeijer, E.J.: Determination of the interdiffusion coefficient for Si/Al multilayers by Auger electron spectroscopic sputter depth profiling. Thin Solid Films 433, 92 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Zalm, P.C. and De Kruif, R.C.M.: Problems in the deconvolution of SIMS depth profiles using delta-doped test structure. Appl. Surf. Sci. 70/71, 73 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Dowsett, M.G. in Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, SIMS X, edited by Benninghoven, A., Hagenhoff, B., and Werner, H.W. (John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, U.K.,1997), p. 355Google Scholar
13Crank, J. in The Mathematics of Diffusion, 2nd ed. (Clarendon, Oxford, U.K.,1975)Google Scholar
14Zhao, Y.H., Wang, J.Y. and Mittemeijer, E.J.: Interaction of amorphous Si and crystalline Al thin films during low-temperature annealing in vacuum. Thin Solid Films 433, 82 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Woehner, T., Ecke, G., Roessler, H. and Hofmann, S.: Sputtering induced surface roughness of polycrystalline Al films and its influence on AES depth profiles. Surf. Interface Anal. 26, 1 (1998).3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16 J.F. Ziegler: TRIM Code, IBM Corporation, Yorktown Heights, NY. Available at: http://www.srim.org.Google Scholar
17EAL, NIST Electron: NIST Database 82, (2001)Google Scholar
18Murray, J.L. and McAlister, A.J.: The Al-Si system. Bull. Alloy Phase Diagrams 5, 74 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Lide, D.R. (editor-in-chief), Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 82nd ed. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2001–2002)Google Scholar
20Hwang, J.C.M., Ho, P.S., Lewis, J.E. and Campell, D.R.: Grain-boundary diffusion of aluminum in polycrystalline silicon film. J. Appl. Phys. 51, 1576 (1980).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21McCaldin, J.O. and Sankur, H.: Diffusivity and solubility of Si in the Al metallization of integrated circuits. Appl. Phys. Lett. 19, 524 (1971).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22Kaur, I., Mishin, Y. and Gust, W. in Fundamentals of Grain and Interphase Boundary Diffusion, 3rd revised and enlarged edition (John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, U.K.,1995)Google Scholar
23Harrison, L.G.: Influence of dislocations on diffusion kinetics in solids with particular reference to the alkali halides. Trans. Faraday Soc. 57, 1191 (1961).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24Zalar, A., Hofmann, S., Pimentel, F. and Panjan, P.: Interfacial reactions in dynamically heated Si/Me/Si sandwich layers. Thin Solid Films 253, 293 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25Hofmann, S. and Kesler, V.: Quantitative AES depth profiling of a Ge/Si multilayer structure. Surf. Interface Anal. 33, 461 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Massalski, T.B.: Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams, 2nd ed. (ASM International, Materials Park, OH,1990)Google Scholar
27Suzuoka, T.: Exact solution of two ideal cases in grain-boundary diffusion problem and the application to sectioning method. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 19, 839 (1964).CrossRefGoogle Scholar