US-Brazil Collaborative Research: Planning Visit - Collaboration On Ion Beam Studies of High-k Dielectric Materials

在这次由国际科学与工程办公室美洲项目资助的规划访问中，罗伯特·M·华莱士将前往巴西波尔图阿莱格雷的联邦大学南里奥格兰德（FURGS），与以色列J.鲍姆沃尔教授协调合作研究项目的计划。 该潜在项目的主题是离子束表征铌基材料和各种热处理后薄膜成分与硅衬底的扩散机制。 UNT和FURGS的实验室具有互补的研究能力，可用于研究每个机构就基于铌的互扩散效应得出的结论中的明显矛盾。 他们可以通过合成和表征具有相同界面层特性的薄膜来研究这些效应。 氧化退火对氮化铪硅酸盐薄膜的影响也可以检查。这次计划访问将允许华莱士博士检查FURGS可用的设施和技术，以便将其与北德克萨斯大学（UNT）的高k电介质材料合成能力进行比较。 它还将使两位研究人员有机会为他们将提交给各自资助机构的提案确定项目。 这项研究应该对全球半导体行业有直接的技术兴趣和相关性。 这次访问还将使研究人员能够讨论与每个小组有关的学生的教学和培训问题，以便进行预期的学生交流。 这种交流不仅可以直接转让研究知识和专门知识，而且还有助于学生的文化教育。

In this planning visit funded by the Americas Program of the Office of International Science and Engineering, Robert M. Wallace will travel to the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (FURGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil to coordinate plans for a collaborative research project with Prof. Israel J. Baumvol. The subjects of the potential project are ion-beam characterization of hafnium-based materials and diffusion mechanisms of film constituents with the silicon substrate after various thermal treatments. The laboratories at both UNT and FURGS have complementary research capabilities that can be used to study the apparent contradictions in conclusions reached at each institution regarding interdiffusion effects in hafnium-based dielectrics. They can study these effects by synthesizing and characterizing films with identical interfacial layer properties. The effect of oxidation annealing on nitrided Hf-silicate films can also be examined.This planning visit will allow Dr. Wallace to examine the facilities and techniques available at FURGS in order to compare them with the high-k dielectric materials-synthesis capabilities at the University of North Texas (UNT). It will also give the two researchers the opportunity to define the projects for the proposals they will submit to their respective funding agencies. This research should have direct technological interest and relevance to the global semiconductor industry. The visit will also enable the researchers to discuss teaching and training of the students associated with each group in terms of expected student exchanges. Such exchanges would not only transfer research knowledge and expertise directly, but they also contribute to the students' cultural education.