Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, Vol.27, No.3, 492-495, 2009
Capability of focused Ar ion beam sputtering for combinatorial synthesis of metal films
The authors examined the use of focused Ar ion beam sputtering (FAIS) for combinatorial synthesis. A Langmuir probe revealed that the electron temperature and density for FAIS of metal film deposition was lower than that of other major combinatorial thin film growth techniques such as pulsed laser deposition. Combining FAIS with the combinatorial method allowed the compositional fraction of the Pt-Ru binary alloy to be systematically controlled. Pt-Ru alloy metal film grew epitaxially on ZnO substrates, and crystal structures changed from the Pt phase (cubic structure) to the Ru phase (hexagonal structure) in the Pt-Ru alloy phase diagram. The alloy film has a smooth surface, with the Ru phase, in particular, showing a clear step-and-terrace structure. The combination of FAIS and the combinatorial method has major potential for the fabrication of high quality composition-spread metal film.
Keywords:electron density;focused ion beam technology;Langmuir probes;metallic epitaxial layers;phase diagrams;platinum alloys;pulsed laser deposition;ruthenium alloys;solid-state phase transformations;sputter deposition;zinc compounds