ULTRATHIN METAL-OXIDE LAYERS BY REACTIVE SPUTTERING - THEIR CONTROLLED DEPOSITION AND CHARACTERIZATION

A method of controllably sputter depositing ultrathin metal oxide layers has been developed. First, a target oxidation run is performed in Ar/O//2 during which an equilibrium oxide forms on the sputter target. Then the oxide material is nonreactively sputter deposited onto the substrate in pure Ar. The thickness of the target oxide, and hence the subsequently deposited films, can be varied by parametric changes in the sputter system. A correlation has been made between the formation and subsequent deposition of the target oxide and the behavior of the O//2 peak as a function of time as measured by residual gas analysis (RGA). The physical presence of these layers has been inferred directly using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) sputter profiling, and their impact on current transport at rectifying metal-silicon interfaces has been assessed by I-V characterization.