Low-temperature beam-induced deposition of thin tin films

Abstract

Ion and electron beam-induced deposition (BID) of thin (1–4 μm), conductive films is accomplished by dissociating and removing the nonmetallic components of an adsorbed, metal-based, molecular gas [SnCl4 and (CH3)4Sn]. Previous research has focused primarily on room-temperature (monolayer adsorption) BID using electrons and slow, heavy ions. This study investigates low-temperature (120 K) BID in which the condensation rate of the precursor gas is well controlled. The residual metallic films are produced by using as incident beams either 2-keV electrons, 25-keV H2+, or 50-keV H2+, all of which provide predominantly electronic energy deposition, or 30-keV Ar+, which provides predominantly nuclear energy deposition. Residual films are analyzed ex situ by scanning electron microscopy, mechanical thickness measurements, resistivity measurements, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and infrared spectrometry. A model is developed that considers bulk and surface dissociation mechanisms and sputtering to describe the BID process. The derived cross sections for the formation of a residue from condensed (CH3)4Sn are nonlinearly related to the total deposited energy approximately to the 1.4 power. The lowest electrical resistivity values of the residues (650 μΩ cm) are obtained only by significant loss of carbon, which is strongly dependent on the nuclear stopping power.