Synthesis of Multifunctional Metal Oxides by Radical Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

本提案的目的是了解原子层沉积的复杂和多功能的金属氧化物薄膜中的自由基的作用。 具体而言，该提案旨在构建一个同轴波导微波源，以有效地解离气体分子，产生能量和通量控制的自由基，并实施原位石英晶体微天平，以研究自由基增强原子层沉积（RE-ALD）过程中的反应动力学，从而获得具有定制材料和电子性能的成分控制的金属氧化物薄膜。 我们将采用几个国家的最先进的表面分析技术来阐明金属离子的化学配位和电荷状态，并评估自由基，组合物和微观结构对所测得的合成金属氧化物薄膜的电性能的影响。 如果成功，这项研究将导致一种能够调整功能并通过改变其基本特性（如组成，结晶度和电子结构）来满足这些复杂金属氧化物材料日益严格的规格的新工艺。 定义工艺参数以实现这些目标将使金属氧化物成为许多技术重要应用的基本组成部分，如电子元件，热障涂层，催化剂，激光光学涂层，生物医学涂层，化学传感器和固体氧化物燃料电池。拟议的工作还将通过工程课程和实践研究，为研究生、本科生和高中暑期实习生的教育和培训做出贡献。

The objective of this proposal is to understand the role of radicals in atomic layer deposition of complex and multifunctional metal oxide thin films. Specifically, this proposal aims to construct one coaxial waveguide microwave source to effectively dissociate gas molecules in generating energy and flux controlled radicals and implement in-situ quartz crystal microbalance to study the reaction kinetics in an radical-enhanced atomic layer deposition (RE-ALD) process leading to compositionally controlled metal oxide thin films with tailored materials and electronics properties. We will employ several state-of-the-art surface analytical techniques to elucidate chemical coordination and charge state of metal ions, and assess the effect of radicals, compositions, and microstructures on the measured electrical properties of the as-synthesized metal oxide thin films. If successful, this research will lead to an enabling and novel process that is capable of tuning the functionalities and meeting the increasingly more stringent specifications of these complex metal oxide materials by changing their fundamental characteristics, such as composition, crystallinity, and electronic structures. Defining the process parameters to achieve these objectives will make metal oxides essential building blocks for many technologically important applications such as electronic components, thermal barrier coatings, catalysts, laser optic coatings, biomedical coatings, chemical sensors, and solid oxide fuel cells. The proposed work will also contribute to the education and training of graduate, undergraduate, and high school summer intern students through engineering courses and hands-on research.