In Situ Gas Phase Measurements During Metal Alkylamide Atomic Layer Deposition

Published

July 12, 2011

Author(s)

James E. Maslar, William A. Kimes, Brent A. Sperling

Abstract

Metal alkylamide compounds, such as tetrakis(ethylmethylamido) hafnium (TEMAH), represent a technologically important class of metalorganic precursors for the deposition of metal oxides and metal nitrides via atomic layer deposition (ALD) or chemical vapor deposition. The development of in situ diagnostics for processes involving these compounds could be beneficial in, e.g., developing deposition recipes and validating equipment-scale simulations. This report describes the performance of the combination of two techniques for the simultaneous, rapid measurement of the three major gas phase species during hafnium oxide thermal ALD using TEMAH and water: TEMAH, water, and methylethyl amine (MEA), the only major reaction by-product. For measurement of TEMAH and MEA, direct absorption methods based on a broadband infrared source with different mid-IR bandpass filters and utilizing amplitude modulation and synchronous detection were developed. For the measurement of water, wavelength modulation spectroscopy utilizing a near-IR distributed feedback diode laser was used. Despite the relatively simple reactor geometry employed here (a flow tube), differences were easily observed in the time-dependent species distributions in 300 mL/min of helium and in 1000 mL/min of nitrogen. With these measurements, it was possible to identify that the degree of TEMAH entrainment was lower in 300 mL/min of helium compared to that in 1000 mL/min of nitrogen. This capability would potentially allow for the selection of carrier gas composition and flow rates to minimize parasitic wall reactions. However, various flow effects were also observed when nitrogen was employed at higher flow rates that may be detrimental to a deposition process.

Citation

Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Volume

11

Issue

9

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

ALD, atomic layer deposition, laser spectroscopy, metal alkylamide, infrared absorption, TEMAH

Citation

Maslar, J. , Kimes, W. and Sperling, B. (2011), In Situ Gas Phase Measurements During Metal Alkylamide Atomic Layer Deposition, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (Accessed April 24, 2024)