Sputtering adhesion

Clean (sputter etch) of contacts/vias followed by adhesion layer sputter deposition. Instead of a sputtered adhesion layer a CVD adhesion layer like TiN can be applied. 

Aluminum, the most common material used for contacts, is easy to use, has low resistivity, and reduces surface Si02 to form interfacial metal-oxide bonds that promote adhesion to the substrate. However, as designs reach submicrometer dimensions, aluminum, Al, has been found to be a poor choice for metallization of contacts and via holes. Al has relatively poor step coverage, which is nonuniform layer thickness when deposited over right-angled geometric features. This leads to keyhole void formation when spaces between features are smaller than 0.7 p.m. New collimated sputtering techniques can extend the lower limit of Al use to 0.5-p.m appHcations. 

Catalysis. Ion implantation and sputtering in general are useful methods for preparing catalysts on metal and insulator substrates. This has been demonstrated for reactions at gas—soHd and Hquid—soHd interfaces. Ion implantation should be considered in cases where good adhesion of the active metal to the substrate is needed or production of novel materials with catalytic properties different from either the substrate or the pure active metal is wanted (129—131). Ion beam mixing of deposited films also promises interesting prospects for the preparation of catalysts (132). 

A typical semiconductor device (found in the back-end of the line or the interconnects) consists of a layer of glass followed by a sputtered layer of titanium, which is thermally treated to form a titanium silicide. Next, a layer of titanium nitride is deposited on top of the silicide and on the sidewall of the contacts by sputtering or by MOCVD (see Fig. 13.3 in Ch. 13).P ]P ] This layer of TiN acts as a diffusion barrier and an adhesion promoter. It is followed by the main interconnect, which is an aluminum-copper alloy, in turn followed by another layer of TiN, which acts as adhesion and antireflecting layer. 

Sputtering is an important thin-film process used extensively in the semiconductor and hard-coating industries and for decorative and jewelry coatings. PlP] Excellent coatings of refractory compounds and metals can be readily produced with good adhesion and composition control without the high temperature requirements of CVD. 

Two basic versions of the process plasma-based ion plating and vacuum-based ion plating. The coating material is vaporized in a manner similar to evaporation. Typically, the plasma is obtained by biasing the substrate to a high negative potential (5 kV) at low pressure. The constant ion bombardment of the substrate sputters off some of the surface atoms which results in improved adhesion and reduced impurities. Surface coverage of discontinuities is also improved. 

Ni-YSZ cermets deposited by RF sputtering (230 nm) were found to have micro-structural features consisting of columnar grains 13 to 75 nm long and 9 to 22 nm wide, and showed good adhesion to the YSZ layer on which they were deposited [128], In a three-layer Ni-YSZ-Ni film deposited on NiO by RF sputtering in another study, the YSZ layer exhibited a columnar structure with some pinholes [129], Microstructural and electrochemical features of Pt electrodes patterned by lithography on YSZ have also been studied [130,131]. 

A silicon wafer with anisotropically KOH-etched openings was used as shadow mask. The shadow mask is accurately positioned with the help of an optical microscope and fixed using a custom-made wafer holder. A 50-nm-thick TiW-film is deposited by sputtering through the shadow mask. This film serves as adhesion layer and diffusion barrier and covers the rough surface of the CMOS-Al-metallization. A Pt-layer with a thickness of 100 nm was sputtered on top of this TiW-layer. 

The characterization of the surface chemistry of the modified polymer is one step in understanding the mechanism for cells adhesion. The next crucial step is to determine the nature and extent of chemical interactions between the overlayer of interest and the modified polymer surface. This step presents a challenge because cmrently there are no techniques available with the sensitivity to characterize chemical interactions for an atomically thin buried interface. Several approaches have been used to analyze buried interfaces. Ion sputter depth profiling (typically done with Ar ions) in conjunction with XPS can be used to evaluate a buried interface for overlayers >10 nm [2]. 

Figure 8. XPS analysis of elemental composition as a function of sputter depth (a) zinc phosphated steel (b) interfacial substrate surface of zinc phosphated steel after adhesion failure of epoxyester coating in cathodic polarization testing. Reproduced from Ref. copyright 1983, American Chemical Society.

Other coating processes involving fluoridated apatite have been investigated to improve the long-term adhesion and promote osteointegration of cementless titanium-based metal implants pulsed laser deposition, electron beam deposition and ion beam sputter deposition techniques, and sol-gel methods, for example. They lead to fluor-containing calcium phosphates (apatites in most cases) with different compositions and crystallinity states. 

Nitrogen sorption measurements were performed on a Quantachrome Autosorb 6B (Quantachrome Corporation, Boynton Beach, FL, USA). All samples were degassed at 423 K before measurement for at least 12 hours at 1 O 5 Pa. Mercury-porosimetrie has been measured on a Porosimeter 2000 (Carlo Erba Instruments) Scanning electron micrographs were recorded using a Zeiss DSM 962 (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). The samples were deposited on a sample holder with an adhesive carbon foil and sputtered with gold. 

DC sputtering Metals, some semiconductors some insulators (reactive sputtering) Vacuum, works best with conductors, better than vapor evaporation for high-melting species, better adhesion than vapor evaporation, but rougher surface reactive sputtering of metals in presence of oxygen or other reactive gas can deposit some insulators... 

In many cases, particularly with evaporation and sputtering methods, adhesion of the deposited film to the substrate may be inherently poor. It is extremely desirable in such cases to deposit a thin layer of an intermediate material that has better adhesion to the substrate. Examples of appropriate adhesion layers are discussed after presentation of evaporation and sputtering techniques. 

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