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Remote Plasma‐Enhanced Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition of Aluminum Oxide Thin Films
Author(s) -
Volintiru Ioana,
Creatore Mariadriana,
van Hemmen Johannes L.,
van de Sanden Mauritius C. M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
plasma processes and polymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1612-8869
pISSN - 1612-8850
DOI - 10.1002/ppap.200700164
Subject(s) - ellipsometry , refractive index , chemical vapor deposition , substrate (aquarium) , thin film , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , oxide , aluminium , deposition (geology) , remote plasma , oxygen , infrared spectroscopy , chemistry , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , composite material , metallurgy , organic chemistry , paleontology , oceanography , sediment , geology , biology
Aluminum oxide films were deposited using remote plasma‐enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition from oxygen/trimethylaluminum mixtures. Initial studies by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry demonstrated that the aluminum oxide films deposited at temperatures <150 °C were porous. The low refractive index of 1.38 was found to increase to 1.52 under ambient conditions, due to ageing. In order to improve the film properties, two routes were explored. First, by increasing the substrate temperature films with a refractive index of 1.48 were obtained at 400 °C, accompanied by a strong decrease in OH concentration, as shown by infrared spectroscopy. Second, by applying an additional rf bias to the substrate the in situ refractive index increased up to 1.60 and the OH groups were quantitatively removed.