Study of Dipolar Polarization in Silicon Nitride Films Using an Adapted Thermally Stimulated Current Technique

摘要

The thesis is a study of ionic polarization in RF sputtered Si3N4 films by the technique of Thermally Stimulated Current (TSC). The model for this polarization phenomenon is a bound ion which may reside in either of two equilibrium potential minima. When an ion moves from one site to the other it behaves as an electric dipole. The TSC procedure consists of (1) biasing the film to establish a non-equilibrium distribution of ions, (2) thermal quenching to freeze the ions in their non-equilibrium state, and (3) reheating the film while measuring the current resulting from the equilibrium of ions in their states. The thesis describes the construction of an RF sputtering system to deposit refractory insulating films as well as a vacuum dewar and automatic temperature programmer for taking TSC data. (Author)