Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:08:29.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The structural characterization of amorphous thin films and coatings in their as-deposited state using x-rays at shallow angles of incidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

J. S. Rigden ,
R. J. Newport  and
G. Bushnell-Wye
J. S. Rigden
Affiliation:
Physics Laboratory, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom
R. J. Newport
Affiliation:
Physics Laboratory, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, United Kingdom
G. Bushnell-Wye
Affiliation:
CLRC, Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, WA4 4AD, United Kingdom
Get access

Abstract

We demonstrate the method of x-ray diffraction at shallow angles of incidence, using the intrinsically highly collimated x-ray beam generated by a synchrotron source, to study the atomic-scale structure of amorphous thin films and coatings in their as-deposited (i.e., on-substrate) state. As the incident angle is decreased, scattering from the film/coating can be isolated as contributions from the substrate are reduced. Systems studied include chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond films deposited onto both silicon and steel substrates, where evidence of an interfacial region between the film and silicon wafer has been observed, but we focus on a range of amorphous films/coatings (mixed TiO2 : SiO2 sol-gel spun films, hydrogenated carbon films and “glassy” carbon coatings, silicon: germanium semiconducting films and alumina coatings). The data are used both to comment upon the systems studied and to elucidate the potential, and the limitations, of the experimental method.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 264 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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

1.Lim, W. P. G. and Ortiz, C., J. Mater. Res. 2, 471 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Burke, T. M., Huxley, D. W., Newport, R. J., and Cernik, R., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 63, 1150 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Burke, T. M., An x-ray and neutron diffraction study of amorphous hydrogenated carbon, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K. (1994).Google Scholar
4. (a) Synthetic Diamond: Emerging CVD Science and Technology, edited by Spear, K. E. and Dismukes, J. D. (Wiley & Sons, Chichester, U.K., 1994); and A. H. Lettington, in Diamond and Diamond-like Films and Coatings, edited by J. C. Angus, R. E. Clausing, L. L. Horton, and P. Koidl (Plenum Publishing, New York, 1991).Google Scholar
5.Rigden, J. S., Burke, T. M., Newport, R. J., Wilson, J. I. B., Jubber, M. G., Morrison, N. A., and John, P., J. Electrochem. Soc. 143, 1033 (1996); and J. S. Rigden and R. J. Newport, in Diamond Materials IV, edited by K. Ravi and J. Dismukes (Electrochem. Soc. Inc., NJ, 1995), p. 473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Jubber, M. G., Wilson, J. I. B., Drummond, I. C., John, P., and Milne, D. K., Vacuum 45, 499 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Morrison, N. A., Drummond, I. C., Garth, C., John, P., Milne, D. K., Smith, G. P., Jubber, M. G., and Wilson, J. I. B., Proc. Diamond Films ‘95, Barcelona, 1995, and Diamond and Related Mater. (in press); also, U.K. patent application 9211107.9, 1992.Google Scholar
8.Franks, J., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A7, 2307 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Walters, J. K. and Newport, R. J., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 7, 1755 (1995).Google Scholar
10.Ibrahim, F., Wilson, J. I. B., and John, P., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 164–166, 1051 (1993); and A. Cook, A. G. Fitzgerald, F. Ibrahim, J. I. B. Wilson, and P. John, Mikrochem. Acta 114/115, 255 (1994); and F. Ibrahim, J. I. B. Wilson, P. John, A. G. Fitzgerald, and A. Cook. J. Non-Cryst. Solids 175, 195 (1994); and F. Ibrahim, J. I. B. Wilson, and P. John, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 191, 191 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Burke, T. M., Honeybone, P. J. R., Huxley, D. W., Newport, R. J., Frauenheim, Th., Blaudeck, P., Kohler, Th., and Hotham, C., in Novel Forms of Carbon, edited by Renschler, C. L., Pouch, J. J., and Cox, D. M. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 270, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992), p. 97; P. J. R. Honeybone, J. K. Walters, D. W. Huxley, R. J. Newport, W. S. Howells, J. Tomkinson, and C. Hotham, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 169, 54 (1994).Google Scholar
12.Paul, W., Chen, J. H., Liu, E. Z., Wetsel, A. E., and Wickbolt, P., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 164–166, 1 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Brinker, C. J. and Scherer, G. W., Sol-Gel Science: The Physics and Chemistry of Sol-Gel Processing (Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA, 1990).Google Scholar
14.Itoh, M., Hattori, H., and Tanabe, K. J., Catal. 35, 225 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Smith, M. E. and Whitfield, H. J., J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 6, 723 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Dirken, P. J., Smith, M. E., and Whitfield, H. J., J. Phys. Chem. 99, 395 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Bastow, T. J., Moodie, A. F., Smith, M. E., and Whitfield, H. J., J. Mater. Chem. 3, 697 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Cheng, J-J. and Wang, D-W., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 100, 288 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Emili, M., Incoccia, L., Mobilio, S., Fagherazzi, G., and Guglielmi, M., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 74, 129 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Rigden, J. S., Newport, R. J., Smith, M. E., Dirken, P. J., and Bushnell-Wye, G., J. Mater. Chem. 6, 337 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Dirken, P. J., Dupree, R., and Smith, M. E., J. Mater. Chem. 5, 1261 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Bornside, D. E., Macosko, C. W., and Scriven, L. E., J. Imag. Technol. 13, 122 (1987).Google Scholar
23.Vineyard, G. H., Phys. Rev. B 26, 4146 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Bushnell-Wye, G. and Cernik, R., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 63, 999 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Warren, B. E., X-ray Diffraction (Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1990).Google Scholar
26.John, P., Graham, C., Milne, D. K., Jubber, M. G., and Wilson, J. I. B., Proc. Diamond Films ‘95, Barcelona, 1995, and Diamond and Related Mater. (in press).Google Scholar
27.Elliot, S. R., Adv. Phys. 38, 1 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar