The Dynamics of Metal Film Growth by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

9306899 Garfunkel The purpose of this project is to understand the basic metal overlayer growth dynamics of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) processes on surfaces. This research includes an examination of the mechanisms involved in the pyrolytic deposition of transition metal films from carbonyl M(CO)x and trifluorophosphine M(PF3)x precursors on Si, Ni, and thin film SiO2. Specific issues that will be addressed are: i) How do organometallic precursors interact and decompose on different substrates? ii) What microscopic structures occur and how do they evolve during the growth of thin metal films? iii) Can one predict which precursor would be appropriate for a desired metallization process? The metal film growth microstructures will be studied primarily by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and the decomposition mechanism and thermochemistry by a combination of vibrational (HREELS), compositional (XPS and AES), and desorption (TDS) spectroscopies. MOCVD results will be compared with those obtained by physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods. Both the microstructural and thermochemical results of this work should add significantly to the understanding of the science of MOCVD and to the variety of advanced materials applications which utilize thin metal films. ***