Investigation of glow-discharge-induced morphology modifications on silicon wafers and chromium conversion coatings by AFM and rugosimetry
Résumé
The effect of radiofrequency glow-discharge sputtering on the sample surface in terms of modifications in the surface morphology were investigated in this work by using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and rugosimetry measurements. The influence of GD operating parameters (e.g. rf power, discharge pressure and sputtering time) on surface roughening was investigated using two different types of samples: mirror-polished and homogeneous silicon wafers and chromate conversion coatings (CCCs). Surface morphology changes produced by GD sputtering into the sample surface were carefully investigated by AFM and rugosimetry, both at the original sample surface and at the bottom of GD craters using different GD experimental conditions, such as the sputtering time (from 1 s to 20 min), rf forward power (20-60 W for the Si wafer and 10-60 W for the CCC), and discharge pressure (400-1,000 Pa for the Si wafer and 500-1000 Pa for the CCC). In the present study, GD-induced morphology modifications were observed after rf-GD-OES analysis, both for the silicon wafers and the CCC. Additionally, the changes observed in surface roughness after GD sputtering were found to be sample-dependent, changing the proportion, shape and roughness of the micro-sized patterns and holes with the sample matrix and the GD conditions. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.
Mots clés
AFM
Atomic force microscopy
Atoms
Chromate coatings
Chromate conversion coatings
Chromates
chromium
Codes (symbols)
Conversion coatings
Discharge pressures
Experimental conditions
Glow discharges
Glow discharge spectrometries
Glow discharge spectrometry
In-depth profile
In-depth profile analysis
Interface/surface analysis
morphology
Operating parameters
Original sample
Photoresists
Plasmas
Radio frequencies
RF-GD-OES
Rf-power
Rugosimetry
Sample matrix
Sample surface
Semiconducting silicon compounds
Semiconductor materials
Silicon wafers
Si wafer
Spectrometry
Sputtering
Sputtering time
Surface morphology
Surface-roughening
Surface roughness
Surfaces