NSF Award
0060589
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project lays the foundation for developing and implementing an in-situ feedback control instrument for Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) of complex oxides. If successful, the project will result in real time in-situ feedback monitors addressing the quality of the actual film being deposited by a complex oxide MOCVD tool for process development and for production. The program is specifically focused on lead zirconium titanate (PZT) for non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) fabrication, but the resulting technology will be applicable to other oxides. This project will develop a real-time in-situ Spectral Ellipsometry film analysis tool that can feedback into process control. Specifically, the developed technology will monitor the optical constants, thickness, composition and surface/interface morphology. Phase I will focus on development of ex-situ sample-data libraries (calibrated to physical measurements) and refine the tool design. In Phase II, a film analysis unit will be mated to an existing pilot production reactor. The unit will be implemented, data libraries refined, and feedback control software and hardware developed. <br/><br/>Phase III commercialization will consist of marketing complete oxide MOCVD systems with Spectral Ellipsometer based in-situ process monitors that enable real time feedback for quality control of deposited films. This will enable high yield economical manufacture of complex material based devices such as <br/>non-volatile memories and infrared detectors, among others, at levels far above those now possible.
