In Situ Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of Phase Transformation in Epitaxial Metastable hcp Nickel Thin Films, Prepared via Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Motamedi, Pouyan
  • Bosnick, Ken
  • Cadien, Ken
  • Hogan, James D.

• Ultrathin metal films have a wide variety of applications, especially in microelectronics. A key method to deposit these films is plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), which is known for its ability to deposit thin films conformally and at relatively low temperatures. Building on the recent work, an improved recipe is reported on for the development of nickel PEALD technology, through which fully epitaxial nickel thin films are deposited. The effect of continuous heating on the phase structure and agglomeration in the metastable thin films is investigated in this paper. The variations of the phase structure are monitored via in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, as well as optical roughness analysis. The temperature windows for phase transformation and particle formation are determined. It is noted that, after the hcp-to-fcc transformation and particle coalescence processes are complete, the particles reshape to acquire the thermodynamically stable shapes dictated by the Wulff theorem. Additionally, a crystallographic orientation relationship between the fcc particles and the sapphire substrate is observed, i.e., Ni (111)||Sapphire(002).

• Date created

  2018-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Annealing
  • Atomic layer deposition
  • Epitaxy
  • Nickel
  • X-ray diffraction

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-g9kr-3e41

• License

  © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Motamedi, Pouyan, Ken Bosnick, Ken Cadien, and James D. Hogan. "In Situ Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction Analysis of Phase Transformation in Epitaxial Metastable hcp Nickel Thin Films, Prepared via Plasma‐Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition." Advanced Materials Interfaces 5, no. 24 (2018): 1800957. https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.201800957, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.201800957. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.