Infrared structural characterization of controlled-growth silicon oxide surfaces

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Atomic layer deposition is a promising technique for precise molecular-level assembly of materials. It offers the possibility to create structures of controlled composition, thickness, coordination, and bonding. In the area of semiconductor device fabrication, it is essential to optimize the timing of the various dosing and purging steps, as many cycles are required in order to create thick multi-layer structures. To this end, techniques that are able to characterize the structure of the growing interfaces in situ are extremely valuable. This proposal seeks to characterize the interaction between various bases and surface hydroxyl groups in the formation of successive silica layers. A combination of linear and nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy offers extreme sensitivity to sub-monolayer coverages, thereby monitoring the molecular-level interactions between the bases introduced in the vapour phase and the surface chemical functional groups. A second aim of this proposal is to explore the possibility of performing some of these measurements in real time inside an atomic layer deposition system.