Desorption and sublimation kinetics for fluorinated aluminum nitride surfaces

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4891650· OSTI ID:22318035

Davis, Robert F. ^[1]; Nemanich, Robert J. ^[2]

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1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 (United States)

The adsorption and desorption of halogen and other gaseous species from surfaces is a key fundamental process for both wet chemical and dry plasma etch and clean processes utilized in nanoelectronic fabrication processes. Therefore, to increase the fundamental understanding of these processes with regard to aluminum nitride (AlN) surfaces, temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been utilized to investigate the desorption kinetics of water (H{sub 2}O), fluorine (F{sub 2}), hydrogen (H{sub 2}), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and other related species from aluminum nitride thin film surfaces treated with an aqueous solution of buffered hydrogen fluoride (BHF) diluted in methanol (CH{sub 3}OH). Pre-TPD XPS measurements of the CH{sub 3}OH:BHF treated AlN surfaces showed the presence of a variety of Al-F, N-F, Al-O, Al-OH, C-H, and C-O surfaces species in addition to Al-N bonding from the AlN thin film. The primary species observed desorbing from these same surfaces during TPD measurements included H{sub 2}, H{sub 2}O, HF, F{sub 2}, and CH{sub 3}OH with some evidence for nitrogen (N{sub 2}) and ammonia (NH{sub 3}) desorption as well. For H{sub 2}O, two desorption peaks with second order kinetics were observed at 195 and 460 °C with activation energies (E{sub d}) of 51 ± 3 and 87 ± 5 kJ/mol, respectively. Desorption of HF similarly exhibited second order kinetics with a peak temperature of 475 °C and E{sub d} of 110 ± 5 kJ/mol. The TPD spectra for F{sub 2} exhibited two peaks at 485 and 585 °C with second order kinetics and E{sub d} of 62 ± 3 and 270 ± 10 kJ/mol, respectively. These values are in excellent agreement with previous E{sub d} measurements for desorption of H{sub 2}O from SiO{sub 2} and AlF{sub x} from AlN surfaces, respectively. The F{sub 2} desorption is therefore attributed to fragmentation of AlF{sub x} species in the mass spectrometer ionizer. H{sub 2} desorption exhibited an additional high temperature peak at 910 °C with E{sub d} = 370 ± 10 kJ/mol that is consistent with both the dehydrogenation of surface AlOH species and H{sub 2} assisted sublimation of AlN. Similarly, N{sub 2} exhibited a similar higher temperature desorption peak with E{sub d} = 535 ± 40 kJ/mol that is consistent with the activation energy for direct sublimation of AlN.

• OSTI ID: 22318035
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 32; ISSN 0734-2101; ISSN JVTAD6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
ACTIVATION ENERGY
ALUMINIUM
ALUMINIUM FLUORIDES
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
AMMONIA
BONDING
DESORPTION
FLUORINE
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN FLUORIDES
METHANOL
NANOSTRUCTURES
SUBLIMATION
SURFACES
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY