Chemical Vapor Deposition of Early Transition Metals at Low Temperatures

在这个由化学部门特殊项目办公室的先进材料化学计划资助的项目中，Gordon将对早期过渡金属（如钛、锆或铪）的低温化学气相沉积（CVD）工艺进行基础研究。该方法将是合成含有氢化芳配体的新型前体化合物，这些前体化合物将干净地分解成金属氢化物膜和非常稳定的芳副产物蒸汽。然后，通过加热到更高的温度，金属氢化物薄膜将解离成金属和氢。沉积金属的成分和结构以及厚度、电阻、表面形貌和台阶覆盖将使用各种光谱和显微工具进行全面表征。由于目前还没有已知的用于任何早期过渡金属的低温CVD工艺，因此成功发现和开发用于沉积这些金属的低温CVD工艺将对半导体和非金属的CVD产生重要影响。各种电子和光学应用，如太阳能电池、智能窗户、平板显示器、耐腐蚀涂层和其他薄膜应用将受到影响。

In this project funded by the Advanced Materials Chemistry Program in the Special Projects Office of the Chemistry Division, Gordon will conduct fundamental research on a low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process for early transition metals such as titanium, zirconium, or hafnium. The approach will be to synthesize novel precursor compounds containing hydrogenated aromatic ligands which should decompose cleanly into metal hydride films and very stable aromatic byproduct vapors. The metal hydride films would then be dissociated into the metal and hydrogen by heating to higher temperatures. The deposited metals will be fully characterized for composition and structure as well as for thickness, electrical resistance, surface morphology, and step coverage using various spectroscopic and microscopic tools. Since no low-temperature CVD processes are currently known for any of the early transition metals, successful discovery and development of a low-temperature CVD process for deposition of these metals should have an important impact on CVD of semiconductors and non-metals. Various electronic and optical applications, such as solar cells, smart windows, flat-panel displays, corrosion-resistant coatings, and other thin-film applications will be affected.