Dissertation Enhancement in Japan: Investigation of Metal Impurities in Ultra Thin Oxide on Silicon

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9407043 Spaepen This award will enable Alison Shull, a Ph.D. graduate student at Harvard University, to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Hirofumi Shimizu for three and a half months at the Semiconductor Device Development Center, Hitachi, Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan. By characterizing the surfaces of silicon and silicon substrates before and after metal deposition, the team will analyze the surface flaws, metal contamination, and oxidation induced defects in silicon wafers. Today, the electronic industry is demanding clean silicon wafer surfaces to produce ultra large scale integrated circuits. Metal impurities can degrade various characteristics of the silicon integrated circuit components, and as the device geometries are reduced, they become more sensitive to contaminants and defects. Prior to the vapor deposition of metal, the team will utilize Dr. Shimizu's expertise in non-destructive diagnostics of metal contaminants using a scanning photon microscope (SPM) as well as other instruments at Hitachi to characterize the surface of silicon wafers. The team will then utilize Ms. Shull's technique of measuring interfacial stress with a laser scanning curvature measurement device to study the effect the contaminants and defects have on the vapor deposition of copper and silver multilayers. Similarly, the team will also study the effect of a silicon oxide layer in preventing crystallization of amorphous thin films of metals and silicon. Shull will provide samples of thin film amorphous silica, both with and without an oxide capping layer, which have been subjected to various high vacuum thermal anneals. The team will utilize the SPM to analyze the silicon/metal interfaces and the silicon/silicon oxide thin film/metal thin film layered structure. The efforts of Shimizu and Shull will further the fundamental understanding of the behavior of metal impurities in ultra thin films enhancing the research and development of thin film, multilaye r and surface coating technologies. ***