TY - JOUR
T1 - The insulating properties of a-C:H on silicon and metal substrates
AU - Maguire, P. D.
AU - Magill, D. P.
AU - Ogwu, A. A.
AU - McLaughlin, J. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge support from Seagate Technology (Ireland) for funding this investigation. We would also like to thank Dr R. McCullough and his colleagues at the Department of Pure and Applied Physics, The Queen's University of Belfast, for nitrogen doping of the a-C:H films. Dr Sayah Said and Prof J. Sullivan, both at Aston University, Birmingham, UK for their assistance with the XPS measurements, Dr A. Turner at Queen's University Belfast, Pure and Applied Physics Department, for his help with the AFM analysis and to Prof I.D. Baikie and Mr Bert Lägel from The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen for allowing us to carry out scanning Kelvin probe measurements on their equipment.
PY - 2001/2
Y1 - 2001/2
N2 - Amorphous carbon has many important applications. In electronic terms, its use as a dielectric is receiving greater attention. This is particularly important for applications in magnetic head devices as a reader gap insulation layer. Results are presented for resistivity and breakdown fields for hydrogenated amorphous carbon on silicon, undoped and doped with nitrogen, using an atomic flux source. Current-voltage characteristics were analysed using a numerical algorithm to determine trap densities. The results indicated that such films can meet the breakdown specifications, on silicon, and that nitrogen doping improves their characteristics. Thickness trends indicate improvements are likely as gaps are scaled. The density of states determination indicated that high breakdown was correlated, in the undoped case, with high DOS but this was not so for the doped films. The DOS was found to increase as the thickness decreased. On substrates other than silicon, the films were observed to have increased roughness, poorer adhesion and a more polymer-like quality. These changes were reflected in a reduction in the observed breakdown field.
AB - Amorphous carbon has many important applications. In electronic terms, its use as a dielectric is receiving greater attention. This is particularly important for applications in magnetic head devices as a reader gap insulation layer. Results are presented for resistivity and breakdown fields for hydrogenated amorphous carbon on silicon, undoped and doped with nitrogen, using an atomic flux source. Current-voltage characteristics were analysed using a numerical algorithm to determine trap densities. The results indicated that such films can meet the breakdown specifications, on silicon, and that nitrogen doping improves their characteristics. Thickness trends indicate improvements are likely as gaps are scaled. The density of states determination indicated that high breakdown was correlated, in the undoped case, with high DOS but this was not so for the doped films. The DOS was found to increase as the thickness decreased. On substrates other than silicon, the films were observed to have increased roughness, poorer adhesion and a more polymer-like quality. These changes were reflected in a reduction in the observed breakdown field.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0925-9635(00)00470-2
DO - 10.1016/S0925-9635(00)00470-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0035248677
SN - 0925-9635
VL - 10
SP - 216
EP - 223
JO - Diamond and Related Materials
JF - Diamond and Related Materials
IS - 2
ER -