Suchergebnisse

Aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium nitride (GaN),and indium nitride (InN) form a family of technologicallyimportant semiconductors of high importance to light-emittingdiodes and high-frequency electronics. Although thinfilms of thesematerials are routinely manufactured by chemical vapor deposition(CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), these methods are farfrom optimal and knowledge of the underlying chemical processesis lacking. In this work, we performed ab initio investigations of thesurface coverage of these materials under an ammonia-richatmosphere. Periodic density functional theory calculations wereused to test the probable surface structures, and their electronicand thermal energies were used to calculate their contribution tothe surface composition under the temperature and pressureconditions relevant for CVD and ALD processes of these materials. The results show similarities between the group of materials witha similar NHxsurface structure present for all three. Comparison of the coverage showed that at low growth temperatures, thesurface is expected to be covered by NH2, while at high temperatures, most surface sites would be vacant. The surface structureswere all found to be the most stable on AlN and least stable on InN. These results are important for further investigations of thematerial growth mechanisms. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish foundation for Strategic Research through the project "Time-resolved low temperature CVD for III-nitrides" [SSF-RMA 15-0018]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at the Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU) [2009 00971]; Swedish Research Council (VR)Swedish Research Council

Thin films of the sp(2)-hybridized polytypes of boron nitride (BN) are interesting materials for several electronic applications such as UV devices. Deposition of epitaxial sp(2)-BN films has been demonstrated on several technologically important semiconductor substrates such as SiC and Al2O3 and where controlled thin film growth on Si would be beneficial for integration of sp(2)-BN in many electronic device systems. The authors investigate the growth of BN films on Si(111) by chemical vapor deposition from triethylboron [B(C2H5)(3)] and ammonia (NH3) at 1300 degrees C with focus on treatments of the Si(111) surface by nitridation, carbidization, or nitridation followed by carbidization prior to BN growth. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that the BN films deposited exhibit sp(2) bonding. X-ray diffraction reveals that the sp(2)-BN films predominantly grow amorphous on untreated and pretreated Si(111), but with diffraction data showing that turbostratic BN can be deposited on Si(111) when the formation of Si3N4 is avoided. The authors accomplish this condition by combining the nitridation procedure with reactions from the walls on which BxC had previously been deposited. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [IS14-0027]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University [SFO-Mat-LiU 2009-00971]

Kinetic modeling has been used to study the decomposition chemistry of ammonia at a wide range of temperatures, pressures, concentrations, and carrier gases mimicking the conditions in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of metal nitrides. The modeling shows that only a small fraction of the ammonia molecules will decompose at most conditions studied. This suggests that the fact that the high NH3 to metal ratios often employed in CVD is due to the very low amount of reactive decomposition products being formed rather than due to rapid decomposition of ammonia into stable dinitrogen and dihydrogen as suggested by purely thermodynamic equilibrium models. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish foundation for Strategic Research through the project "Time-resolved low temperature CVD for III-nitrides" [SSF-RMA 15-0018]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at the Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU) [2009 00971]; Swedish Research Council (VR)Swedish Research Council

Epitaxial rhombohedral boron nitride (r-BN) films were deposited on alpha-Al2O3(001) substrates by chemical vapor deposition, using trimethylboron, ammonia, and a low concentration of silane in the growth flux. The depositions were performed at temperatures from 1200 to 1485 degrees C, pressures from 30 to 90 mbar, and N/B ratios from 321 to 1286. The most favorable conditions for epitaxy were a temperature of 1400 degrees C, N/B around 964, and pressures below 40 mbar. Analysis by thin film x-ray diffraction showed that most deposited films were polytype-pure epitaxial r-BN with an out-of-plane epitaxial relationship of r-BN[001] parallel to w-AlN[001] parallel to alpha-Al2O3[001] and with two in-plane relationships of r-BN[110] parallel to w-AlN[110] parallel to alpha-Al2O3[100] and r-BN[110] parallel to w-AlN[110] parallel to alpha-Al2O3[(1) over bar 00] due to twinning. Published by the AVS. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) [IS14-0027]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]

Thin films of boron nitride in its sp(2)-hybridized form (sp(2)-BN) have potential uses in UV devices and dielectrics. Here, we explore chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of sp(2)-BN on various cuts of sapphire: Al2O3 ( 11 2 over bar 0 ), Al2O3 ( 1 1 over bar 02 ), Al2O3 ( 10 1 over bar 0 ), and Al2O3 (0001) using two CVD processes with two different boron precursors triethylborane and trimethylborane. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that sp(2)-BN grows on all the sapphire substrates; using x-ray diffraction, 2 theta/omega diffractogram shows that only Al2O3 ( 11 2 over bar 0 ) and Al2O3 (0001) rendered crystalline films: and using phi(phi)-scans, growth of the rhombohedral polytype (r-BN) films on these substrates is confirmed. These films were found to be epitaxially grown on an AlN interlayer with comparatively higher crystalline quality for the films grown on the Al2O3 ( 11 2 over bar 0 ) substrate, which is determined using omega(omega)-scans. Our study suggests that Al2O3 ( 11 2 over bar 0 ) is the most favorable sapphire substrate to realize the envisioned applications of r-BN films. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council [2017-04164]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) [IS14-0027]; Carl Tryggers Foundation for Scientific Research [CTS 14:189]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; Swedish Research Council VR-RFI [2019-00191]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [RIF14-0053]

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a semiconductor with a wide range of applications from light-emitting diodes to high-frequency transistors. Electronic grade AlN is routinely deposited at 1000 degrees C by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using trimethylaluminum (TMA) and NH3, while low-temperature CVD routes to high-quality AlN are scarce and suffer from high levels of carbon impurities in the film. We report on an atomic layer deposition-like CVD approach with time-resolved precursor supply where readsorption of methyl groups from the AlN surface is suppressed by the addition of an extra pulse, H-2, N-2, or Ar, between the TMA and NH3 pulses. The suppressed readsorption allowed deposition of AlN films with a carbon content of 1 at. % at 480 degrees C. Kinetic and quantum-chemical modeling suggests that the extra pulse between TMA and NH3 prevents readsorption of desorbing methyl groups terminating the AlN surface after the TMA pulse. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) through the project "time-resolved low temperature CVD for III-nitrides" [SSF-RMA 15-0018]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty grant SFO Mat LiU) [2009 00971]; Swedish Research Council (VR)Swedish Research Council

Amorphous boron-carbon-nitrogen (B-C-N) films with low density are potentially interesting as alternative low-dielectric-constant (low-kappa) materials for future electronic devices. Such applications require deposition at temperatures below 300 degrees C, making plasma chemical vapor deposition (plasma CVD) a preferred deposition method. Plasma CVD of B-C-N films is today typically done with separate precursors for B, C and N or with precursors containing B-N bonds and an additional carbon precursor. We present an approach to plasma CVD of B-C-N films based on triethylboron (B(C2H5)(3)), a precursor with B-C bonds, in an argon-nitrogen plasma. From quantitative analysis with time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (ToF-ERDA), we find that the deposition process can afford B-C-N films with a B/N ratio between 0.9-1.3 and B/C ratios between 3.4-8.6 and where the films contain from 3.6 to 7.8 at% H and from 6.6 to 20 at% O. The films have low density, from 0.32 to 1.6 g cm(-3) as determined from cross-section scanning electron micrographs and ToF-ERDA with morphologies ranging from smooth films to separated nanowalls. Scanning transmission electron microscopy shows that C and BN do not phase-separate in the film. The static dielectric constant kappa, measured by capacitance-voltage measurements, varies with the Ar concentration in the range from 3.3 to 35 for low and high Ar concentrations, respectively. We suggest that this dependence is caused by the energetic bombardment of plasma species during film deposition. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [IS14-0027]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009-00971]; Swedish research council VR-RFISwedish Research Council [2017-00646_9]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic ResearchSwedish Foundation for Strategic Research [RIF14-0053]; Knut and Alice Wallenberg FoundationKnut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation

New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) include several new technologies for introduction of new variation into crop plants for plant breeding, in particular the methods that aim to make targeted mutagenesis at specific sites in the plant genome (NBT mutagenesis). However, following that the French highest legislative body for administrative justice, the Conseil d'État, has sought advice from The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in interpreting the scope of the genetically modified organisms (GMO) Directive, CJEU in a decision from 2018, stated that organisms modified by these new techniques are not exempted from the current EU GMO legislation. The decision was based in a context of conventional plant breeding using mutagenesis of crop plants by physical or chemical treatments. These plants are explicitly exempted from the EU GMO legislation, based on the long-termed use of mutagenesis. Following its decision, the EU Court considers that the NBTs operate "at a rate out of all proportion to those resulting from the application of conventional methods of mutagenesis." In this paper, we argue that in fact this is not the case anymore; instead, a convergence has taken place between conventional mutagenesis and NBTs, in particular due to the possibilities of TILLING methods that allow the fast detection of mutations in any gene of a genome. Thus, by both strategies mutations in any gene across the genome can be obtained at a rather high speed. However, the differences between the strategies are 1) the precision of the exact site of mutation in a target gene, and 2) the number of off-target mutations affecting other genes than the target gene. Both aspects favour the NBT methods, which provide more precision and fewer off-target mutations. This is in stark contrast to the different status of the two technologies with respect to EU GMO legislation. In the future, this situation is not sustainable for the European plant breeding industry, since it is expected that restrictions on the use of NBTs will be weaker outside Europe. This calls for reconsiderations of the EU legislation of plants generated via NBT mutagenesis.

Thin films of boron nitride (BN), particularly the sp(2)-hybridized polytypes hexagonal BN (h-BN) and rhombohedral BN (r-BN), are interesting for several electronic applications, given the bandgaps in the UV. They are typically deposited close to thermal equilibrium by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) at temperatures and pressures in the regions 1400-1800K and 1000-10000Pa, respectively. In this letter, the authors use the van der Waals corrected density functional theory and thermodynamic stability calculations to determine the stability of r-BN and compare it to that of h-BN as well as to cubic BN and wurtzitic BN. The authors find that r-BN is the stable sp(2)-hybridized phase at CVD conditions, while h-BN is metastable. Thus, their calculations suggest that thin films of h-BN must be deposited far from thermal equilibrium. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) [IS14-0027]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]; SSF through the Future Research Leaders 6 grant; Swedish Research Council (VR) [2014-6336]; Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions [INCA 600398]; Kungl. Ingenjorsvetenskapsakademiens Hans Werthen-Fond

Boron nitride (BN) as a thin film is promising for many future electronic applications. On 0001 alpha-Al2O3 and 0001 4H/6H-SiC substrates, chemical vapor deposition yields epitaxial sp(2)-hybridized BN (sp(2)-BN) films oriented around the c-axis. Here, the authors seek to point out that sp(2)-BN can form two different polytypes; hexagonal BN (h-BN) and rhombohedral BN (r-BN), only differing in the stacking of the basal planes but with the identical distance between the basal planes and in-plane lattice parameters. This makes structural identification challenging in c- axis oriented films. The authors suggest the use of a combination of high-resolution electron microscopy with careful sample preparation and thin film x-ray diffraction techniques like pole figure measurements and glancing incidence (in-plane) diffraction to fully distinguish h-BN from r-BN. (C) 2018 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council (VR) [621-2013-5585]; Carl Tryggers Stiftelse [12:175]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [SSF IS-14-0024]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [SFO-Mat-LiU 2009-00971]

Epitaxial rhombohedral boron nitride (r-BN) films were deposited on ZrB2(0001)/4H-SiC(0001) by chemical vapor deposition at 1485 degrees C from the reaction of triethylboron and ammonia and with a minute amount of silane (SiH4). X-ray diffraction (XRD) w-scans yield the epitaxial relationships of r-BN(0001) k ZrB2(0001) out-of-plane and r-BN[11-20] k ZrB2[11-20] in-plane. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs showed that epitaxial growth of r-BN films prevails to similar to 10 nm. Both XRD and TEM demonstrate the formation of carbon- and nitrogen-containing cubic inclusions at the ZrB2 surface. Quantitative analysis from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the r-BN films shows B/N ratios between 1.30 and 1.20 and an O content of 3-4 at. %. Plan-view scanning electron microscopy images reveal a surface morphology where an amorphous material comprising B, C, and N is surrounding the epitaxial twinned r-BN crystals. ; Funding Agencies|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [IS14-0027]; Carl Tryggers Foundation for Scientific Research [CTS 14:189]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU) [2009-00971]