Ni Substrate Processing Using In-Vacuo Wafer Transfer To Integrate Surface Characterization, Surface Cleaning, And Ni-Cu Epitaxial Alloy Growth

Abstract

Due to the rapid oxidation of metal surfaces, in vacuo preparation of metal substrates is needed to provide suitable growth surfaces. Surface characterization of the metal substrates or the subsequent epitaxial metal growths must also be performed under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Transfers of the metal samples from preparation to growth to characterization facilities must be in vacuo to protect the highly reactive surfaces. This work has been performed with an in vacuo transfer system integrating a two-stage load lock, a remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition chamber, a substrate preparation facility, a metals molecular beam epitaxy chamber, and a surface analysis system. This integrated process facility will be described with particular attention to the effects of sample preparation on the subsequent metals growth. Processing with the integrated facility has resulted in the growth of epitaxial metal films, alloys, multilayers, and superlattices. Processing with only in situ wafer processing has resulted in only textured polycrystalline growths. The metals molecular beam epitaxy system of the integrated facility will be described with special emphasis on epitaxial growths of metal thin films, alloys, multilayers, and superlattices from the Cu-Ni system.