Selectivity and Nucleation Effects in Atomic Layer Deposition of Copper for Plasmonic Nanostructures

Download or read book Selectivity and Nucleation Effects in Atomic Layer Deposition of Copper for Plasmonic Nanostructures written by Jie Qi and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As device requirements keep pushing toward smaller and higher aspect ratio structures, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has become a promising technique for the deposition of nanometer dielectric and metallic thin films with applications in semiconductors, nanotechnology, catalysis, and energy. Meanwhile, the field of plasmonics has gained attention, driven by a variety of exciting applications including chemical and biological sensors, solar energy harvesting devices, spectroscopy, and photocatalytic conversion. A key feature of nanoscale plasmonic materials is a strong dependence of the plasmon resonance on size, shape, composition, and surroundings of the nanostructures. ALD offers an effective means to tune the morphology, composition, and particle-particle junctions of nanostructures with precise control at an atomic level. However, successful application of ALD to plasmonics requires detailed understanding of selective growth, nucleation process, and their dependence on growth conditions for nanostructures. In this Cu ALD study, we identified optimal process parameters to achieve conformal deposition on nanostructures with good nucleation. A selectivity window was also defined to help establish a set of relations between selective deposition and growth conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the plasmon resonance can be tuned significantly by Cu ALD and provided a deeper understanding of this process for applications such as plasmonic rectenna. It makes a remarkable contribution to process optimization and device design to enable widespread utilization of this technology in photonics and nanoelectronics.