Thin film industry

Fluorination of tungsten and rhenium produces tungsten hexafluoride, WF, and rhenium hexafluoride [10049-17-9J, ReF, respectively. These volatile metal fluorides are used in the chemical vapor deposition industry to produce metal coatings and intricately shaped components (see Thin films,... 

In the electronics industry, gold is used as fine wires or thin film coatings and frequendy in the form of alloys to economize on gold consumption and to impart properties such as hardness. Gold has properties that satisfy specific requirements not achievable with less expensive metals (see Electrical connectors Electronics coatings Thin films). 

PPQs possess a stepladder stmcture that combines good thermal stabiUty, electrical insulation, and chemical resistance with good processing characteristics (81). These properties allow unique appHcations in the aerospace and electronics industries (82,83). PPQ can be made conductive by the use of an electrochemical oxidation method (84). The conductivities of these films vary from 10 to 10 S/cm depending on the dopant anions, thus finding appHcations in electronics industry. Similarly, some thermally stable PQs with low dielectric constants have been produced for microelectronic appHcations (85). Thin films of PQs have been used in nonlinear optical appHcations (86,87). 

Low pressure argon is the usual medium for industrial sputtering of metals and other soHd films (100) (see Thin films, film formation techniques). 

In most cases, CVD reactions are activated thermally, but in some cases, notably in exothermic chemical transport reactions, the substrate temperature is held below that of the feed material to obtain deposition. Other means of activation are available (7), eg, deposition at lower substrate temperatures is obtained by electric-discharge plasma activation. In some cases, unique materials are produced by plasma-assisted CVD (PACVD), such as amorphous siHcon from silane where 10—35 mol % hydrogen remains bonded in the soHd deposit. Except for the problem of large amounts of energy consumption in its formation, this material is of interest for thin-film solar cells. Passivating films of Si02 or Si02 Si N deposited by PACVD are of interest in the semiconductor industry (see Semiconductors). 

Thin-Film Evaporators. There are two types of thin-film evaporators commonly used in industrial appHcations. The first type introduces feed material into the center of a rotating heated conical receiver. Centrifugal force causes the feed to travel to the outer edge of the conical receiver where it is coUected and drawn off as residue. During the process, the heat causes the volatile components to be driven from the feed. These volatile components are condensed on a chilled surface of the evaporator and coUected as distUlate. 

Tertiary bismuthines appear to have a number of uses in synthetic organic chemistry (32), eg, they promote the formation of 1,1,2-trisubstituted cyclopropanes by the iateraction of electron-deficient olefins and dialkyl dibromomalonates (100). They have also been employed for the preparation of thin films (qv) of superconducting bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (101), as cocatalysts for the polymerization of alkynes (102), as inhibitors of the flammabihty of epoxy resins (103), and for a number of other industrial purposes. 

Thin-film epitaxy by OMCVD is generally more flexible, faster, lower in cost, and more suited for industrial production than MBE. An OMCVD system usually consists of two principal components, a gas manifold for blending the gas composition, and a graphite substrate holder which is usually inductively heated. A schematic diagram of an OMCVD system is shown in Figure 5. 

The energy densities of laser beams which are conventionally used in the production of thin films is about 10 — 10 Jcm s and a typical subsU ate in the semiconductor industry is a material having a low drermal conductivity, and drerefore dre radiation which is absorbed by dre substrate is retained near to dre surface. Table 2.8 shows dre relevant physical properties of some typical substrate materials, which can be used in dre solution of Fourier s equation given above as a first approximation to dre real situation. 

For applied work, an optical characterization technique should be as simple, rapid, and informative as possible. Other valuable aspects are the ability to perform measurements in a contactless manner at (or even above) room temperature. Modulation Spectroscopy is one of the most usehil techniques for studying the optical proponents of the bulk (semiconductors or metals) and surface (semiconductors) of technologically important materials. It is relatively simple, inexpensive, compact, and easy to use. Although photoluminescence is the most widely used technique for characterizing bulk and thin-film semiconductors. Modulation Spectroscopy is gainii in popularity as new applications are found and the database is increased. There are about 100 laboratories (university, industry, and government) around the world that use Modulation Spectroscopy for semiconductor characterization. 

Therefore, this book is to give the analyst - whether a newcomer wishing to acquaint themself with new methods or a materials analyst needing to inform themself on methods that are not available in their own laboratory - a clue about the principles, instrumentation, and applications of the methods, techniques, and procedures of surface and thin-film analysis. The first step into this direction was the chapter Surface and Thin Film Analysis of Ullmann s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (Vol. B6, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2002) in which practitioners give briefly outline the methods. 

Another common device used in the rubber industry is the thin film evaporator. This device is very often used in the manufacture of ultra-low molecular weight elastomers that are used in sealant applications or specialty coatings, and as processing aids in conventional rubber compounding processes. The thin film evaporator described earlier, has found a multitude of other industry applications, including food processing operations. 

For high vacuum distillation, Eckles et al. [150] suggest using a thin film or conventional batch process for industrial type installations however, there are many tray and packed colunms operating as low as 4 mm Hg, abs Eckles... 

---