IMR: Acquisition of a Biased Target Ion Beam Deposition System for Materials Research & Integrated Education Activities

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This project will adapt a novel pulse-biased multi-target deposition instrument for supporting Texas State University's growing advanced materials research and integrated education activities. The Biased Target Ion Beam Deposition (BTIBD) instrument will permit the fabrication of a wide variety of artificially-structured layered films and alloys with precisely-controlled sub-nanolayer features and adjustable surface/interface characteristics. The instrument implements a pulsed biased target approach that overcomes many of the limitations of traditional ion beam and (pulsed) magnetron sputtering techniques, and is a major evolutionary advancement of Texas State's pioneering radical atom assist ion beam sputtering tool. Major goals of this project will be: (1) the demonstration of the combinatorial capabilities of this new tool for fabricating tailored artificially-engineered nanolayered materials and alloys, (2) the demonstration that BTIBD is capable of implementation as a simpler sputtering counterpart to the atomic layer deposition technique, and (3) the demonstration of the feasibility of the BTIBD approach for industrial implementation in advanced device manufacturing. This proposed project will result in a BTIBD multi-target prototype system developed in close collaborative interaction with 4 Wave, Inc, the pioneers of this biased deposition concept. The BTIBD system will be used to fabricate complex film materials including magnetic photonic garnet waveguide materials; ZnO-based and GaN-based wide-bandgap semiconductor materials; rare-earth/transition metal oxides for MOS and magnetic tunnel junction applications; polycrystalline and epitaxial ferromagnetic alloy films for magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction investigations; and transition metal-silicides (for ULSI gate stack applications). These are materials of interest for both fundamental and applied (device-related) investigations, with potential impact towards applications including magnetic storage, microelectronics, telecommunications and microelectromechanical systems.This project will explore a new thin-film deposition system. The system will be able to rapidly prototype new thin-film materials with many different constituent atoms, and provide the means for tuning the atomic profiles at interfaces in the films, which is very important for controlling material properties in these systems. The system will be used to produce a variety of films that are useful in electronic, optical and magnetic applications. Development of this system is being done in conjunction with a private company and delivery of this system will provide a prototype deposition which may be duplicated later at other institutions.