Relationship Between Interatomic Bonding and Electron Transport in Plasma Deposited Amorphous Metal Alloys

摘要

Amorphous metal alloy films have been produced using a new technique. Nominally NiP alloys are made by dissociating mixtures of nickel carbonyl and phosphine using a radio-frequency discharge in either an argon or a hydrogen carrier gas. This process incorporates significant amounts of carbon and oxygen impurities into the film. A previously unreported relationship between the interatomic bonding involving these impurities and the electronic transport properties of the films is discussed in this paper. The bonding studies were carried out principally using Auger lineshape analysis. Transport properties measured included 4-terminal resistivities, Hall mobilities and carrier concentrations, and Seebeck coefficients. Covalent bonding of Ni with C or P with O is strongly correlated with high resistivity, mainly through a decrease in carrier density. (ERA citation 10:037108)