Μm Wide Gap Research Articles

Deposition and Characterization of Porous Silica Xerogel Films

AbstractThe continued scaling of device feature size demands the use of low permittivity intermetal dielectric materials. Porous silica xerogel films have low dielectric permittivity through the incorporation of micropores into the SiO2 network. A feasible xerogel process has been developed. Crack-free and uniform silica xerogel films up to two microns in thickness with targeted porosity were readily coated. Xerogel materials completely filled 0.3 μm wide gaps with a 2:1 aspect ratio. MOSCAP measurements revealed a low permittivity and high dielectric breakdown strength. The dielectric breakdown strength is expected to be higher than that of ambient air because the average pore size of in the xerogel film is much smaller than the mean free path of the ambient air. Surface treated xerogel films were found to be hydrophobic as indicated by the absence of adsorbed moisture peaks in FTIR spectra. Xerogel films maintained their porosity after deposition of dense capping layers and a subsequent process under 700 atm Ar pressure at 400 °C. Test structures containing xerogel were successfully planarization with CMP and went through a tungsten plug deposition process without delamination nor collapsing. These results reflect the reasonable mechanical strength of xerogel films.

Switching on stray electric fields in ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

Abstract In liquid crystal dot-matrix displays light may leak through the display area between the pixels. To obtain sufficient contrast this non-pixel area has to be made non-transmissive. For ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) displays this may be done by switching the material in the gaps between the picture elements to a non-transmissive state by the stray electric fields that occur during application of voltages to the pixel electrodes. This is experimentally studied for test cells with an electrically modified smectic layer structure. The gap region considered is an asymmetric environment of the FLC material, as the transparent conductive coating has been removed on one substrate, whereas on the other substrate a conductor covers the glass. The FLC molecules in the non-pixel area prefer to direct their dipoles towards the covered substrate. To switch the FLC material with the stray electric fields, it is a prerequisite to outweigh this preference. We made spatially resolved observations for various gap widths and various applied voltages on 2 μm thick FLC layers. With bipolar voltage pulses of 64 μs width each, amplitudes of about 25 V are needed to switch the FLC in 3·2 or 4·0 μm wide gaps. It was found to be more difficult to switch gaps that, are 7 μm wide than was anticipated on the basis of the results for 4 μm gaps. This is attributed to the surface polarization charge due to the FLC permanent dipoles built up at the FLC-glass interface. Experimental results supporting this explanation are presented.

Magnetic‐field‐induced damage in a superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−x film

AbstractDuring investigations of the magnetic flux dynamics in thin superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−x films we have observed the spontaneous formation of a damage in the film, apparently induced by the applied magnetic field of 0.1 T. The damage developed within less than 40 ms (the time resolution of the experiment) and showed up in the magnetiooptically recorded image of the flux above the sample as a path for massive flux penetration. A subsequent analysis revealed a 1 μm wide gap in the YBa2Cu3O7−x film which had developed over a major portion of the 1 · 1 cm2 sample. It is suggested that the film locally melted as a result of an instability of the superconductor in the critical state.