Fundamental Aspects of Ion Beam Assisted Deposition of Magnesium Oxide Template Films

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 3311 - 3314
• Main Authors: Groves, J.R., DePaula, R.F., Stan, L., Hammond, R.H., Clemens, B.M.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.06.2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Acoustic wave devices, piezoelectric and piezoresistive devices; Applied sciences; Conductors; Deposition; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electromagnets; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; High temperature superconductors; Inflection points; Ion beam assisted deposition; Ion beams; Laboratories; Magnesium oxide; Materials science and technology; Microelectronic fabrication (materials and surfaces technology); Microorganisms; nucleation; Optical films; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Silicon nitride; Substrates; Superconducting films; Superconductivity; Surface layer; template films; Texture; Various equipment and components; Amorphous material; Nucleation; Electron diffraction; In situ; In situ test; Diffraction pattern; Ion beam coating; Ion beam assisted deposition method; RHEED; Experimental study; Texture; Thickness; Microelectronic fabrication; Ion beam-assisted deposition; High energy; magnesium oxide; Recrystallization; Physical vapor deposition; Deposit formation; template films; Quartz microbalance
• ISSN: 1051-8223; 1558-2515
• DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2009.2018814

The nucleation and growth of magnesium oxide (MgO) deposited using the ion beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) technique was investigated using a specially designed in-situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), which acted as the substrate during deposition. The mass accumulation of the growing film was collected while simultaneous reflected high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns were taken. IBAD MgO films deposited on the QCM with an amorphous silicon nitride layer showed an inflection point in the data. This inflection separated two distinct regions with the initial region having a slope greater than that of the final region. Experiments run at different ion-to-molecule ratios had similar inflection points that corresponded to a thickness of ~2 nm and could not be explained by an elementary growth and surface coverage model. Correlation of this inflection point with RHEED images showed that the point of inflection corresponds to the onset of in-plane texture. This result suggests that the IBAD MgO process is more complex than previously suggested and may depend upon a solid phase recrystallization process.