The Nanoscale Materials Analysis Department in the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center has an active program in UHV transmission electron microscopy. Much of our research has concerned the growth of Ge and SiGe on Si. By carrying out chemical vapour deposition of Ge and SiGe in the microscope, we have developed a kinetic model for the formation of “quantum dots”, or nanoscale islands, and are presently studying methods of patterning these islands. In combination with low energy electron microscopy we have studied the development of the SiGe surface instability and the evolution of island shapes. By depositing different metals on Si surfaces, we have observed the growth kinetics of silicides and texture development in polycrystalline films. Finally, we are using a novel specimen geometry to observe liquid phase growth of electrodeposited copper in real time. Our motivation for these projects is the belief that by directly observing and modeling growth processes we can understand the important physical phenomena at work and use them to our advantage in designing nanoscale structures.
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The Hitachi H-9000 UHV-TEM at IBM
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Figure 1: This view shows the microscope column on the left with the attached UHV chambers extending to the right. On the column the plumbing for the gas inlet tubes is visible. Adjacent to the column is a transfer chamber into which specimens are loadlocked before being moved either into the microscope or into the other chambers. The second chamber has a focused ion beam gun, electron gun and window for the pyrometer while the third has several evaporators.
For detailed labeling shift pointer over the UHV-TEM image above
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