Time-resolved surface infrared spectroscopy during atomic layer deposition

Published

September 10, 2013

Author(s)

Brent A. Sperling, John J. Hoang, William A. Kimes, James E. Maslar

Abstract

This work presents a novel method for obtaining surface infrared spectra with sub-second time resolution during atomic layer deposition (ALD). Using a rapid-scan Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer, we obtain a series of interferograms (120 ms) during each ALD cycle and average them across multiple cycles. We use a buried-metal-layer (BML) substrate to enhance absorption by the surface species. The surface selection rules of the BML allow us to determine the contribution from the substrate surface as opposed to that from gas-phase molecules and species adsorbed at the windows. In addition, we use simulation to examine the origins of increased reflectivity associated with phonon absorption by the oxide layers. The simulations are also used to determine the decay in enhancement by the buried metal layer substrate as the oxide layer grows during the experiment. These calculations are used to estimate the optimal number of ALD cycles for our experimental method.

Citation

Applied Spectroscopy

Volume

67

Issue

9

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1366/13-06995

Keywords

atomic layer deposition, reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy

Citation

Sperling, B. , Hoang, J. , Kimes, W. and Maslar, J. (2013), Time-resolved surface infrared spectroscopy during atomic layer deposition, Applied Spectroscopy, [online], https://doi.org/10.1366/13-06995 (Accessed October 13, 2025)