A route towards the fabrication of 2D heterostructures using atomic layer etching combined with selective conversion

Heterostructures of low-dimensional semiconducting materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (MX2), are promising building blocks for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. The patterning of one MX2 material on top of another one is challenging due to their structural similarity. This prevents an intrinsic etch stop when conventional anisotropic dry etching processes are used. An alternative approach consist in a two-step process, where a sacrificial silicon layer is pre-patterned with a low damage plasma process, stopping on the underlying MoS2 film. The pre-patterned layer is used as sacrificial template for the formation of the top WS2 film. This study describes the optimization of a cyclic Ar/Cl2 atomic layer etch process applied to etch silicon on top of MoS2, with minimal damage, followed by a selective conversion of the patterned Si into WS2. The impact of the Si atomic layer etch towards the MoS2 is evaluated: in the ion energy range used for this study, MoS2 removal occurs in the over-etch step over 1–2 layers, leading to the appearance of MoOx but without significant lattice distortions to the remaining layers. The combination of Si atomic layer etch, on top of MoS2, and subsequent Si-to-WS2 selective conversion, allows to create a WS2/MoS2 heterostructure, with clear Raman signals and horizontal lattice alignment. These results demonstrate a scalable, transfer free method to achieve horizontally individually patterned heterostacks and open the route towards wafer-level processing of 2D materials

Reactive plasma cleaning and restoration of transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers

The cleaning of two-dimensional (2D) materials is an essential step in the fabrication of future devices, leveraging their unique physical, optical, and chemical properties. Part of these emerging 2D materials are transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). So far there is limited understanding of the cleaning of “monolayer” TMD materials. In this study, we report on the use of downstream H2 plasma to clean the surface of monolayer WS2 grown by MOCVD. We demonstrate that high-temperature processing is essential, allowing to maximize the removal rate of polymers and to mitigate damage caused to the WS2 in the form of sulfur vacancies. We show that low temperature in situ carbonyl sulfide (OCS) soak is an efficient way to resulfurize the material, besides high-temperature H2S annealing. The cleaning processes and mechanisms elucidated in this work are tested on back-gated field-effect transistors, confirming that transport properties of WS2 devices can be maintained by the combination of H2 plasma cleaning and OCS restoration. The low-damage plasma cleaning based on H2 and OCS is very reproducible, fast (completed in a few minutes) and uses a 300 mm industrial plasma etch system qualified for standard semiconductor pilot production. This process is, therefore, expected to enable the industrial scale-up of 2D-based devices, co-integrated with silicon technology

The role of thermal energy accommodation and atomic recombination probabilities in low pressure oxygen plasmas

International audienceSurface interaction probabilities are critical parameters that determine the behaviour of low pressure plasmas and so are crucial input parameters for plasma simulations that play a key role in determining their accuracy. However, these parameters are difficult to estimate without in situ measurements. In this work, the role of two prominent surface interaction probabilities, the atomic oxygen recombination coefficient ? O and the thermal energy accommodation coefficient ? E in determining the plasma properties of low pressure inductively coupled oxygen plasmas are investigated using two-dimensional fluid-kinetic simulations. These plasmas are the type used for semiconductor processing. It was found that ? E plays a crucial role in determining the neutral gas temperature and neutral gas density. Through this dependency, the value of ? E also determines a range of other plasma properties such as the atomic oxygen density, the plasma potential, the electron temperature, and ion bombardment energy and neutral-to-ion flux ratio at the wafer holder. The main role of ? O is in determining the atomic oxygen density and flux to the wafer holder along with the neutral-to-ion flux ratio. It was found that the plasma properties are most sensitive to each coefficient when the value of the coefficient is small causing the losses of atomic oxygen and thermal energy to be surface interaction limited rather than transport limited

Adsorption réactive des molécules et radicaux sur des surfaces sous exposition plasma

Atomic sources, thermal protection for atmospheric re-entry and plasma-catalyst systems for air pollution control are just few examples of applications where interaction between N2/O2 containing plasmas and the surface plays a central role. Mechanisms of heterogeneous processes in plasmas are still barely understood. Unknown conditions on the surface limit the accuracy and predictive capability of the kinetic models. In the first part of this work we investigate adsorption and chemical reactions of O and N atoms on oxide surfaces (silica, Pyrex, TiO2) under plasma exposure. We use tuneable laser absorption spectroscopy, broad-band UV absorption spectroscopy, two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF) and mass spectrometry to monitor interaction between gas phase species and the surface. Surface analysis is performed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It has been shown that stable Oads and Nads atoms are grafted to oxide surfaces under exposure to low pressure (~1 mbar) plasmas in O2 and N2. The coverage and reactivity of adsorbed atoms has been probed by exposing the pretreated surface to stable molecules (NO, C2H2) and radicals (O, N). Using isotopic exchange 15N↔14Nads and 18O↔16Oads under plasma exposure the role of chemisorbed species in surface catalysed recombination of atoms has been investigated. In the second part of this thesis, relaxation of vibrationally excited N2 molecules on catalytic surfaces is studied using infrared (IR) titration technique. Mixtures containing 0.05 - 1% of CO2 (CO, N2O) in N2 at p=1.3 mbar are excited by a single dc discharge pulse. The kinetics of vibrational relaxation of IR tracers during the post-discharge is followed using quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy. Due to a very efficient vibrational energy transfer between N2 and CO2 (CO, N2O), excitation of IR tracers is an image of the vibrational excitation of N2. Relaxation measurements have been interpreted in terms of a numerical model of non-equilibrium vibrational kinetics. Probability of N2 vibrational quantum loss has been determined from the best agreement between the experiment and the model.Les sources d'atomes, la protection thermique pour la rentrée atmosphérique et la dépollution de l'air par couplage plasma-catalyseur voici quelques exemples d'applications pour lesquelles l'interaction plasma-surface joue un rôle principal. Les mécanismes des réactions hétérogènes dans les plasmas contenant les gaz atmosphériques N2/O2 sont encore peu compris. La précision et la capacité de prédiction des modèles cinétiques sont limitées par la connaissance des conditions de la surface. Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous avons étudié l'adsorption et les réactions chimiques des atomes O et N sur des surfaces de différents oxydes (silice, Pyrex, TiO2) sous exposition plasma. Nous avons utilisé la spectroscopie d'absorption par laser accordable, la spectroscopie d'absorption UV, la fluorescence induite par laser à deux photons (TALIF) et la spectrométrie de masse pour suivre l'interaction entre les espèces en phase gaz et les surfaces. L'analyse chimique de surface a été effectuée par spectrométrie photoélectronique X (XPS). Nous avons montré que des atomes stables Nads et Oads peuvent être chimisorbés sur la surface par plasma dans O2 et N2 à basse pression (~ 1 mbar). Leur densité et la réactivité ont été évaluées par réactions avec des molécules stables (NO, C2H2) et des radicaux (O, N) sur la surface prétraitée. Le rôle des atomes chimisorbés pour la recombinaison hétérogène d'atomes a été étudié en utilisant l'échange isotopique 15N ↔ 14Nads et 18O ↔ 16Oads sous exposition plasma. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous avons étudié la relaxation vibrationnelle des molécules de N2 sur des surfaces catalytiques par la technique de titrage infrarouge (IR). Des mélanges contenant 0,05 - 1% de CO2 (CO ou N2O) dans N2 à la pression p = 1,3 mbar ont été excités par une décharge dc pulsée. La cinétique de la relaxation vibrationnelle des traceurs IR dans la post-décharge a été mesurée par un laser à cascade quantique. Grace à un couplage très efficace entre N2 et CO2 (CO ou N2O), l'excitation vibrationnelle de CO2 (CO ou N2O) reflet l'excitation de N2. Un modèle numérique de la cinétique vibrationnelle a été développé afin d'interpréter les mesures de relaxation. La probabilité de perte d'un quanta vibrationnel de N2 sur la surface a été déterminée à partir du meilleur accord entre l'expérience et le modèle

Comment on "Insight into hydrogenation of graphene: Effect of hydrogen plasma chemistry" [Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 183104 (2014)]

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Dynamical Monte Carlo methods for plasma-surface reactions

International audienceDifferent dynamical Monte Carlo algorithms to investigate molecule formation on surfaces are developed, evaluated and compared with the deterministic approach based on reaction-rate equations. These include a null event algorithm, the n-fold way/BKL algorithm and an 'hybrid' variant of the latter. NO2 formation by NO oxidation on Pyrex and O recombination on silica with the formation of O2 are taken as case studies. The influence of the grid size on the CPU calculation time and the accuracy of the results is analysed. The role of LangmuirHinsehlwood recombination involving two physisorbed atoms and the effect of back diffusion and its inclusion in a deterministic formulation are investigated and discussed. It is shown that dynamical Monte Carlo schemes are flexible, simple to implement, describe easily elementary processes that are not straightforward to include in deterministic simulations, can run very efficiently if appropriately chosen and give highly reliable results. Moreover, the present approach provides a relatively simple procedure to describe fully coupled surface and gas phase chemistries

Adsorption réactive des molécules et radicaux sur des surfaces sous exposition plasma

Les sources d'atomes, la protection thermique pour la rentrée atmosphérique et la dépollution de l'air par couplage plasma-catalyseur voici quelques exemples d'applications pour lesquelles l'interaction plasma-surface joue un rôle principal. Les mécanismes des réactions hétérogènes dans les plasmas contenant les gaz atmosphériques N2/O2 sont encore peu compris. La précision et la capacité de prédiction des modèles cinétiques sont limitées par la connaissance des conditions de la surface. Dans la première partie de ce travail, nous avons étudié l'adsorption et les réactions chimiques des atomes O et N sur des surfaces de différents oxydes (silice, Pyrex, TiO2) sous exposition plasma. Nous avons utilisé la spectroscopie d'absorption par laser accordable, la spectroscopie d'absorption UV, la fluorescence induite par laser à deux photons (TALIF) et la spectrométrie de masse pour suivre l'interaction entre les espèces en phase gaz et les surfaces. L'analyse chimique de surface a été effectuée par spectrométrie photoélectronique X (XPS). Nous avons montré que des atomes stables Nads et Oads peuvent être chimisorbés sur la surface par plasma dans O2 et N2 à basse pression (~ 1 mbar). Leur densité et la réactivité ont été évaluées par réactions avec des molécules stables (NO, C2H2) et des radicaux (O, N) sur la surface prétraitée. Le rôle des atomes chimisorbés pour la recombinaison hétérogène d'atomes a été étudié en utilisant l'échange isotopique 15N 14Nads et 18O 16Oads sous exposition plasma. Dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, nous avons étudié la relaxation vibrationnelle des molécules de N2 sur des surfaces catalytiques par la technique de titrage infrarouge (IR). Des mélanges contenant 0,05 - 1% de CO2 (CO ou N2O) dans N2 à la pression p = 1,3 mbar ont été excités par une décharge dc pulsée. La cinétique de la relaxation vibrationnelle des traceurs IR dans la post-décharge a été mesurée par un laser à cascade quantique. Grace à un couplage très efficace entre N2 et CO2 (CO ou N2O), l'excitation vibrationnelle de CO2 (CO ou N2O) reflet l'excitation de N2. Un modèle numérique de la cinétique vibrationnelle a été développé afin d'interpréter les mesures de relaxation. La probabilité de perte d'un quanta vibrationnel de N2 sur la surface a été déterminée à partir du meilleur accord entre l'expérience et le modèleAtomic sources, thermal protection for atmospheric re-entry and plasma-catalyst systems for air pollution control are just few examples of applications where interaction between N2/O2 containing plasmas and the surface plays a central role. Mechanisms of heterogeneous processes in plasmas are still barely understood. Unknown conditions on the surface limit the accuracy and predictive capability of the kinetic models. In the first part of this work we investigate adsorption and chemical reactions of O and N atoms on oxide surfaces (silica, Pyrex, TiO2) under plasma exposure. We use tuneable laser absorption spectroscopy, broad-band UV absorption spectroscopy, two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF) and mass spectrometry to monitor interaction between gas phase species and the surface. Surface analysis is performed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It has been shown that stable Oads and Nads atoms are grafted to oxide surfaces under exposure to low pressure (~1 mbar) plasmas in O2 and N2. The coverage and reactivity of adsorbed atoms has been probed by exposing the pretreated surface to stable molecules (NO, C2H2) and radicals (O, N). Using isotopic exchange 15N 14Nads and 18O 16Oads under plasma exposure the role of chemisorbed species in surface catalysed recombination of atoms has been investigated. In the second part of this thesis, relaxation of vibrationally excited N2 molecules on catalytic surfaces is studied using infrared (IR) titration technique. Mixtures containing 0.05 - 1% of CO2 (CO, N2O) in N2 at p=1.3 mbar are excited by a single dc discharge pulse. The kinetics of vibrational relaxation of IR tracers during the post-discharge is followed using quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy. Due to a very efficient vibrational energy transfer between N2 and CO2 (CO, N2O), excitation of IR tracers is an image of the vibrational excitation of N2. Relaxation measurements have been interpreted in terms of a numerical model of non-equilibrium vibrational kinetics. Probability of N2 vibrational quantum loss has been determined from the best agreement between the experiment and the modelPALAISEAU-Polytechnique (914772301) / SudocSudocFranceF

Power coupling and electrical characterization of the radio-frequency micro-APPJ

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Reactivity of atoms adsorbed on catalytic surfaces under plasma exposure

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Reactivity and adsorption of N atoms on catalytic surfaces

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