Wen‐Yaung Lee

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were used to characterize the air-exposed and sputter-cleaned surfaces of glow-discharge-produced Si1−xCx:H (x=0.05 to 0.90) films. On the air-exposed surfaces, silicon was preferentially oxidized with the enriched carbon existing as graphite or hydrocarbon. Signal intensities obtained from the surfaces sputter cleaned with 1 keV Ar+ ion beams indicated no significant preferential sputtering of C to Si for these films. The values of the carbon 1s and silicon 2p and 2s binding energies as well as the valence band spectra suggested a significant change in the local atomic configurations at x∼0.6–0.7. Based on these XPS and AES results and the reported IR absorption data, a slightly cross-linked, carbon and hydrogen substituted polysilicon and an almost fully cross-linked, silicon and hydrogen substituted polycarbon were proposed to describe the structure of films below and above x∼0.6–0.7, respectively.

We describe structural and magnetic measurements of polycrystalline, L10 chemically ordered Fe(55–60)Pt(45–40) films as a function of film thickness (from 3 to 13 nm) and growth temperature (270–370 °C). With increasing film thickness, the coercivity increases from about 1 kOe up to 11 kOe (growth at 400 °C), while for increasing growth temperature, the coercivity grows from 0.2 to 6 kOe for 4.3 nm thick films and 1.6 to 10 kOe for 8.5 nm thick films. There is a strong, nearly linear correlation between coercivity and the extent of L10 chemical order. In all the films there is a mixture of L10 and chemically disordered, fcc phases. The grain size in the L10 phase increases with both film thickness and growth temperature (increasing chemical order), while in the fcc phase the grain size remains nearly constant and is smaller than in the L10 phase. The films all contain twins and stacking faults. The relationship between the coercivity and the film structure is discussed and we give a possible mechanism for the lack of chemical order in the very thin films (lack of nucleation sites for the L10 phase).

Aluminum and Al-Cu conductor lines etched with a Cl containing plasma in low-pressure diode systems corroded rapidly upon atmospheric exposure. The mechanisms underlying this corrosion problem were investigated using Auger electron and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. Reactive ion etching resulted in a nonprotective oxide layer and thus rendered the etched samples more susceptible to atmospheric corrosion. Factors contributing to the increased reactivity of etched samples includes C and Cl contamination, radiation damage, and for Al-Cu alloys, Cu enrichment. A thermal oxidation treatment at temperatures of ∼300–350 °C and l atm O2 pressure for ≳30–45 min was found to be effective in restoring the protective oxide layer and thus improving the corrosion resistance of etched samples.