TEL. +81-(0)29-869-8620
5-9-5, Tokodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 300-2635 Japan
The thin film sample is made whose binary or ternary (2 or 3 elements)
composition are changed 0 to 100% in the sample. Using the mask motion,
very thin unit layers having the wedge shaped thickness are deposited and
stacked alternatingly. Since the thickness of the unit layers are about
0.2 nm (2A), which almost equals to the atomic distance, the ideal material
mixtures can be otained.
Because all the combination of the binary or ternay compositions are included
in one sample, the optimum composition for a desired functionality can
be determined in a short time by evaluating all the composition in the
one sample ata atime.
The composition distribution in the sample has superior lineality and the
"1 to 1" correspondance with geometric position, since the composition
spread is made by the mechanical motion of the combinatorial mask.
A material-A (indicated in RED) and a material-B (in BLUE) are alternatingly
stacked on the substrate. During the deposition of the unit layer, by the
combi-mask motion from left to right or right to left, the film thickness
is linearly changed just like the wedge shape. This combined unit layers
are repeatedly stacked for a required film thickness.
An ideal material mixture can be obtained since the thickness of the unit
layers are about 0.2 nm (2A), which almost equals to the atomic distance.
In this example, at the left end, the material-A(in RED) is 100%, and the
material-B (in BLUE) is 100 % at the right end. At the very center of the
sample, the composition of A and B is 50:50. The geometric position in
the sample has the superior correspondance with the material composition.
Therefore, the compositional analysis is unnecessary after the characteristic
evaluations.
The composition spread sample makes the characteristics evaluations stable
and easier, since the sample was prepared with the same deposition parameters(the
substrate temperature, the deposition pressure, the deposition rate etc)
and with the same thickness, just only the composition is changed in the
sample.
The following moving images show the actual deposition processes of the
Binary and Ternary composition spread samples. Instead of changing the
direction of the mask motion, the sample was rotated by 180 dgrees and
120 degrees for the Binary and Ternary samples, respectively.
5-9-5, Tokodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 300-2635 Japan
TEL +81-(0)29-869-8620
FAX +81-(0)29-869-8621