Record Details
Thermally-stable amorphous metal thin films
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Thermally-stable amorphous metal thin films |
| Names |
McGlone, John M.
(creator) Wager, John F. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 2014-03-04 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 2014 |
| Abstract | Amorphous metal thin films (AMTFs) are of potential use for metal-insulator-metal (MIM) tunnel diode applications due to their ultra-smooth surfaces, a consequence of their amorphous microstructure. The objective of this thesis is to design a thermally-stable AMTF capable of maintaining MIM tunnel diode performance after a post-deposition anneal in excess of 500 °C. The following guidelines are employed in the design of a thermally-stable AMTF: (i) The amorphous metal should be composed of three or more elements with the highest concentration being a refractory metal. (ii) Constituent elements should have a wide distribution of atomic radii, with at least a 12% difference in size between any two elements. (iii) A large negative heat of mixing should exist among elemental constituents. (iv) At least one constituent element should be a metalloid, such as Si. Using these guidelines three AMTFs - TaNiSi, TaMoSi, and TaWSi- are investigated and are found to be thermally-stable to the extent that their crystallization temperature is greater than 600 °C. TaWSi is found to have the highest crystallization temperature, i.e., ∼ 1000 > 900 °C, and is used in the fabrication of a thermally-stable MIM diode which exhibits Fowler-Nordheim dominated tunneling even after being subjected to a post-deposition anneal at 525 °C. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Metal Insulator Metal Diodes |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/46653 |
