What controls deposition rate in electron-beam chemical vapor deposition?

Non-equilibrium adatom thermal state enables rapid additive nanomanufacturing

A new state of radical thermal non-equilibrium in surface adsorbed molecules is discovered that enables rapid surface diffusion of energized adatoms with a negligible effect on the substrate surface temperature. Due to enhanced surface diffusion, growth rates can be achieved that improve the feasibility of many nanofabrication techniques. Since the adatom temperature cannot be directly measured without disturbing its thermodynamic state, the first principle hard-cube model is used to predict both the adatom effective temperature and the surface temperature in response to gaseous particle impingement in a vacuum. The validity of the approach is supported by local, spatially-resolved surface temperature measurements of the thermal response to supersonic microjet gas impingement. The ability to determine and control the adatom effective temperature, and therefore the surface diffusion rate, opens new degrees of freedom in controlling a wide range of nanofabrication processes that critically depend on surface diffusion of precursor molecules. This fundamental understanding has the potential to accelerate research into nanoscale fabrication and to yield the new materials with unique properties that are only accessible with nanoscale features.

Modelling focused electron beam induced deposition beyond Langmuir adsorption

In this work, the continuum model for focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID) is generalized to account for multilayer adsorption processes. Two types of adsorption energies, describing both physisorption and spontaneous chemisorption, are included. Steady state solutions under no diffusion are investigated and compared under a wide range of conditions. The different growth regimes observed are fully explained by relative changes in FEBID characteristic frequencies. Additionally, we present a set of FEBID frequency maps where growth rate and surface coverage are plotted as a function of characteristic timescales. From the analysis of Langmuir, as well as homogeneous and heterogeneous multilayer maps, we infer that three types of growth regimes are possible for FEBID under no diffusion, resulting into four types of adsorption isotherms. We propose the use of these maps as a powerful tool for the analysis of FEBID processes.

Rapid Electron Beam Writing of Topologically Complex 3D Nanostructures Using Liquid Phase Precursor

Advancement of focused electron beam-induced deposition (FEBID) as a versatile direct-write additive nanoscale fabrication technique has been inhibited by poor throughput, limited choice of precursors, and restrictions on possible 3D topologies. Here, we demonstrate FEBID using nanoelectrospray liquid precursor injection to grow carbon and pure metal nanostructures via direct decomposition and electrochemical reduction of the relevant precursors, achieving growth rates 10(5) times greater than those observed in standard gas-phase FEBID. Initiating growth at the free surface of a liquid pool enables fabrication of complex 3D carbon nanostructures with strong adhesion to the substrate. Deposition of silver microstructures at similar growth rates is also demonstrated as a promising avenue for future development of the technique.

Dynamic surface site activation: a rate limiting process in electron beam induced etching

We report a new mechanism that limits the rate of electron beam induced etching (EBIE). Typically, the etch rate is assumed to scale directly with the precursor adsorbate dissociation rate. Here, we show that this is a special case, and that the rate can instead be limited by the concentration of active sites at the surface. Novel etch kinetics are expected if surface sites are activated during EBIE, and observed experimentally using the electron sensitive material ultra nanocrystalline diamond (UNCD). In practice, etch kinetics are of interest because they affect resolution, throughput, proximity effects, and the topography of nanostructures and nanostructured devices fabricated by EBIE.

Low-energy electron-stimulated desorption of cations and neutrals from Si(111)-(7x7):C2D2

The interactions of low-energy (5-50 eV) electrons with acetylene-d(2) (C(2)D(2)) adsorbed on the Si(111)-(7x7) surface have been examined by monitoring the stimulated desorption products. These include primary cation desorbates, D(+) and C(2)D(2)(+) (C(2)HD(+)), the fragment ion C(2)D(+), smaller amounts of C(2)(+), CDH(+) (CH(3)(+)), and neutral D((2)S). The approximately 23-25 eV threshold energies for D(+) and hydrocarbon fragment ion detection indicate involvement of two-hole or two-hole one electron final states that Coulomb explode. These multihole states can be created via Auger decay of single holes in shallow core levels localized on C or Si surface atoms. The approximately 12 eV appearance threshold for the C(2)D(2)(+) molecular ion can be correlated with direct excitation of an adsorbate-induced surface state, which may initially possess character of the A(3) surface state of Si. The 18 eV threshold for C(2)D(+) correlates with decomposition of C(2)D(2)(+) with excess vibronic energy. C(2)D(+) desorption via direct excitation of the dissociative (2)Sigma(u)(+)-type state of the C(2)D(2)(+) ion is also possible. The approximately 8 eV threshold energy for production and desorption of neutral D((2)S) may correlate with excitation of the perturbed/mixed F (1)Sigma(u)(+)<--X (1)Sigma(g)(+) and E (1)Sigma(u)(+)<--X(1)Sigma(g)(+) dissociative transitions of adsorbed acetylene molecules. Time-of-flight distributions of D((2)S) indicate both nonthermal (557 and 116 meV; 4300 and 900 K) and thermal (17 meV; 130 K) components. The two fast components can be related to the geometry of di-sigma bonded acetylene on the Si(111)-(7x7) surface.

Unified moving-boundary model with fluctuations for unstable diffusive growth

We study a moving-boundary model of nonconserved interface growth that implements the interplay between diffusive matter transport and aggregation kinetics at the interface. Conspicuous examples are found in thin-film production by chemical vapor deposition and electrochemical deposition. The model also incorporates noise terms that account for fluctuations in the diffusive and attachment processes. A small-slope approximation allows us to derive effective interface evolution equations (IEEs) in which parameters are related to those of the full moving-boundary problem. In particular, the form of the linear dispersion relation of the IEE changes drastically for slow or for instantaneous attachment kinetics. In the former case the IEE takes the form of the well-known (noisy) Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, showing a morphological instability at short times that evolves into kinetic roughening of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) class. In the instantaneous kinetics limit, the IEE combines the Mullins-Sekerka linear dispersion relation with a KPZ nonlinearity, and we provide a numerical study of the ensuing dynamics. In all cases, the long preasymptotic transients can account for the experimental difficulties in observing KPZ scaling. We also compare our results with relevant data from experiments and discrete models.