Insight

A regular update to the semiconductor industry

March 2009

Page 2
SAFC Hitech® and AWI 2008 in Review

Strengthen Long Term Page 3

Customer Satisfaction
Survey Results

Research Collaboration Page 4

Halide Mediated
SAFC Hitech and Air Water Inc. (AWI) have a long history working together to develop and Improvement of Lateral
provide performance chemicals to both the silicon and compound semiconductor markets in Growth of InN in MOCVD
Japan. Molecular engineering of compounds to tailor physical properties is an involved
process that relies heavily on source assessment under actual usage conditions. The Page 6
REACH Pre-registration
correlation of performance results in a deposition process to novel chemistry highlighting
Accomplished
beneficial changes is used to ensure continuous improvement in precursor performance.
A Focus on
Obviously layer growth and characterisation capabilities must be to the highest standards and
Procurement in a
in the last 12 months long-term plans have been established Global Supply Chain
to provide high quality research and development facilities
to support the needs of the end user Integrated Device Page 7
Manufacturer (IDM) and Original Equipment Manufacturer Tungsten Carbonitride
(OEM) in Japan. It is essential that a locally available fast Thin Films

and responsive reaction to their research needs is

Page 8
accessible as they develop new integrated circuits and the
Improved Processes
tools to build them for the rapidly expanding market for and Materials for
state-of-the-art electronic semiconductor devices. Energy Saving Glazing

New Regulations for

AWI’s central research facility is located at Matsumoto in the Nagano prefecture of Japan and Certification of
a wide range of high purity gas and chemical related research is performed under the Containers
directorship of Hirohisa Hiramatsu. Within this facility there are laboratories and clean rooms
where SAFC Hitech and AWI together investigate the performance of new chemicals required Page 9
Crystal Grade Metal
by the semiconductor industry. The inclusion of electrical measurement equipment along with
Halides Make Big
deposition tools allows the researcher to establish I-V and
Impact
C-V plots and thus establish the flow of current (or not)
Geoff Irvine Expanded
through the surface of the grown films and their substrates
Role
all in one centre of excellence. Such superb facilities have
attracted a number of Japanese multinational IDMs and Page 10
OEMs to send their research engineers to Matsumoto to Cadmium Oxide as an
work alongside our researchers on specific projects under Alternative TCO

strict non-disclosure agreements.

Page 11
Continued on page 5 Conference
Representation 2009

Page 12
Contact Details

www.safchitech.com
Page 2 SAFC Hitech News

2008 in Review - Barry Leese

2008 was an extremely successful year for SAFC Hitech with significant growth
achieved despite the downturn in general economic conditions during the latter
stages of the year. As well as increasing our revenues, we continued to invest in
several areas: in expanding our manufacturing footprint in growth opportunity areas;
in the development of new and innovative materials; and in the equipment with which
these materials can be delivered to the process chamber most effectively.

During the year several effective campaigns have emphasised our ongoing commitment to leadership in the compound
semiconductor market, expanded our presence in the silicon semiconductor area and also entered into numerous
emerging markets for ‘performance’ or ‘specialist’ chemicals where we see substantial future business opportunities.

Investment in production facilities has seen the opening of our $9 million 5000ft² cleanroom at
Sheboygan, Wisconsin along with commissioning of additional plant capacity at
Bromborough, Haverhill and Taiwan. These expansions enable us to produce, package and
analyse products in multiple locations in higher volumes, completing the total supply chain to
ensure our customers an uninterrupted supply of the highest quality materials globally.

We hosted extremely successful media visits to both the Sheboygan and Bromborough
facilities in 2008. These visits not only gave us a chance to update our friends in the editorial
community about our ongoing investment program but also an opportunity to qualify these
investments in tangible terms by actually showing them around the expanded facilities.
Furthermore product developments were highlighted to demonstrate the advances made in
precursor technologies by our highly active Research team. In particular novel materials for
Germanium Antimony Telluride (GexSbyTez or GST) for use in high volume manufacturing phase change memory (PCM)
applications generated significant interest from several very large customers.

In October we announced the availability of our portfolio of Crystal Growth Halides representing the first launch from the
‘Performance Materials’ range of SAFC Hitech. This new element of product offerings focuses on applications outside
the “standard” Compound and Silicon areas to enhance our ability to service a wider
range of customers in the electronics and related industries. The rapidly-developing
solar market falls into this category with sol-gel, chemical bath deposition (CBD) and
other techniques as well as CVD requiring HVM of high quality chemicals. We are
already seeing major requirements for materials for CBD CIGS (copper indium
gallium selenide) and CdTe/CdSe (cadmium telluride/selenide) to complement the
existing range of CVD precursors. III-V and Si CVD sources complete the SAFC
Hitech ability to supply precursors to all the conventional competing technologies and
future investment in the organic electronics area will ensure full coverage of future
fabrication methods.

In addition to expanding our product range we have developed our equipment offering to enhance the delivery of
precursors to the deposition equipment. The introduction of the OM700, a bubbler that offers customers a cost-efficient
migration path to controlled precursor delivery for larger lot sizes, and the EpiVapor™, a cost-effective metalorganic
vapour phase distribution system that eliminates the need for localised tool bubblers and TCUs by delivering vapours
from highly volatile and sensitive pyrophoric liquids directly to MOCVD systems, has been very well received in the
market place. These enabling technologies afford a reduction in process downtime and increased safety controls.

Looking forward to 2009, we aim to maintain our highest standards of service to an expanding compound and silicon
semiconductor industry, to invest in locations and technologies that we feel will enhance our capabilities in emerging
areas such as photovoltaics, and to provide a stable supply chain to all of our customers.
 Page 3

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

SAFC Hitech strives to achieve the highest standards of customer service and to assess performance in this area conducts
an annual survey to allow customer perceptions to be evaluated. Feedback is highly valued and numerous improvement
projects have been implemented based on this customer input. The objective is always to maintain our highly valued
relationship with product users and ensure all areas of the SAFC Hitech/customer
Overall Rating
interface remain at the highest level.

SAFC Hitech would like to thank all of the respondees for their time and
comments which will be used to improve our performance. A prize draw
was held for all completed forms and this year’s winner of a state-of-the-
art iPod is Tom Katona in USA.

The findings of the survey allow corrective actions to be

Are there specific products required
established to counter negative experiences as well as to be introduced?

ensuring newly introduced protocols are successful. Positive feedback

demonstrates that dealing with SAFC Hitech has met or surpassed
customer expectations.
How do you rate the website?

Overall this year the majority of responses were positive with an increased
ratio compared to negative items indicating the already excellent
perception of SAFC Hitech as a precursor supplier from previous years
has been improved upon. Last year’s issue relating to the communication Positive
of the change from Epichem to SAFC Hitech has been resolved and the Negative

new brand has become widely recognised as a premier precursor

supplier across an increasingly wide range of application technologies.
This expansion in remit for SAFC Hitech may explain the comments Detailed Results
received relating to a customer requirement for more products to meet Are orders dealt with and
their needs. The SAFC Hitech research team is highly active to develop delivered as promised?

new materials to meet these demands. Due to the range of chemicals

involved and the volumes, their introduction to the full catalogue does take
time hence specific technical contact with customers is employed to
disseminate new offer areas. Further efforts to exhibit the full range of
capabilities to supply compounds specifically matched to customer Are you satisfied with the level of service
processes in an ad-hoc manner suited to new material process from the technical support team?

development are planned for the coming months to address this lack of
communication. Again it should be stressed that those customers dealing
with the Technical team were highly appreciative of the support and this
service is to be further highlighted for new customers to access and
discuss alternative precursor strategies. In recent months the upgraded Are you satisfied with the level of service
from the customer service team?
website has improved the availability of technical data on standard
products and continuous assessment is performed to maintain and
update this database of precursor properties.

As in previous years customers who returned negative comments will be

contacted directly by their account manager to discuss these concerns
Is product packaging and safety
and determine a strategic plan to resolve any difficulties. A key target for information to standard?

2009 will be to maintain effective communications between all our

customer and SAFC Hitech contacts in Sales, Customer Services,
Technical Services and beyond. Coupled with the planned improvements
to product offer communications we hope to demonstrate the extensive
options available to all customers to ensure purchase of the precursors
best suited to their processes in the most efficient manner.
Page 4 SAFC Hitech News

Halide Mediated Improvement of the

Lateral Growth of InN in MOCVD
Recently, a lot of research efforts have been devoted to InN, the least known of the semiconducting
group-III nitrides. The growth using the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) technique has been more
investigated, while fewer studies used the Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) method.
Whatever the approach, the growth of InN has proved extremely challenging; in particular due to the
fact that no lattice matched substrate is available.

In this work, we present our results regarding the progress in MOVPE

growth of InN achieved in the INDOT project thanks to inputs from all
partners to optimise materials and processes (see inset for INDOT
details or www.indot-project.net). First, we attempted to reproduce the
MOCVD technology for production of
successful two-step growth method which is commonly used to form
indium nitride based nanophotonic devices
epitaxial GaN layers on a sapphire substrate, also with a large lattice
mismatch. In-depth analysis of the structure and morphology of a GaN Participant name Country
nucleation layer in order to transpose this knowledge to the
InN/GaN/sapphire system was performed. The detailed study of such AIXTRON AG Germany
an annealed GaN buffer revealed the presence of a typical density of
GES UMR5650 CNRS France
1011 per cm2 crystal grains, with a quality analysed by grazing X-ray
diffraction that showed a full width at half maximum of 3600 arcseconds SAFC Hitech Limited UK
for the (10-10) diffraction peak. Such a test structure was produced
using the required low temperature MOVPE growth of InN on sapphire, SAES Getters SpA Italy
however, it was not possible to obtain high crystal quality due to the lack
of surface mobility and lateral growth, which limits the coalescence of InN during growth.

Due to the restriction of thermal energy that can be inputted to the InN system to avoid product evaporation during
growth, a novel chemical approach has been studied to enhance surface mobilities and allow high quality films to be
deposited. This technique involves modification of the gas phase chemistry to enhance lateral growth of InN by altering
the surface species and increasing their ability to move on a surface even at the low temperatures dictated for InN. In
detail CBrCl3 was co-injected during growth to form volatile halides that have proven successful in enhancing the final
deposited film quality significantly.

In Figure 1, we report the X-ray diffraction patterns obtained on different

InN layers grown under increasing CBrCl3/TMIn ratios. Interference
fringes, known as “Pendellosung fringes” are clearly observed as the
injected CBrCl3 amount increases. This is proof of a high in-plane
coherence, due to a spectacular improvement of the layer morphologies.

Atomic force microscopy investigations were carried out to precisely

quantify the surface rms roughness, and the results clearly demonstrate
that the lateral growth is immensely improved by the use of CBrCl3 to
form halides (see images in Figure 2, showing a strong decrease of the
surface roughness, see z-scale). Another representation, demonstrating
Figure 1 XRD results using CBrCl3
that surface roughness is drastically reduced, is given in the graph in
Figure 2 where we plotted the distribution of surface features mean heights
versus CBrCl3 content.

Combined with the use of low temperature buffer layer, this approach leads to a breakthrough in InN material quality.
Roughness values are now such that device fabrication is possible and further work is ongoing to develop this exciting
technology.
 Page 5

Figure 2 Surface roughness data using CBrCl3

Related communications output from project:

Int. Workshop on Nitride Semiconductors (IWN2008), Montreux, Switzerland, October 2008
● Halide mediated improvement of the lateral growth of InN in MOCVD
O. Briot, S. Ruffenach, M. Moret, B. Gil, Ch. Giesen, M. Heuken, S. Rushworth, T. Leese and M. Succi
● Growth and doping of InN films by MOVPE
O. Briot, S. Ruffenach, M. Moret, B. Gil, Ch. Giesen, M. Heuken, S. Rushworth, T. Leese and M. Succi
2nd Int. Symposium on Growth of III-Nitride Semiconductors (ISGN2), Shuzenji, Japan, July 2008
● Growth of InN films and nanostructures by MOVPE
O. Briot, S. Ruffenach, M. Moret, B. Gil, Ch. Giesen, M. Heuken, S. Rushworth, T. Leese and M. Succi
● MOVPE growth of InN buffer layers on sapphire
O. Briot, S. Ruffenach, M. Moret, B. Gil, Ch. Giesen, M. Heuken, S. Rushworth, T. Leese and M. Succi
● Alternative precursors for MOVPE growth of InN and GaN at low temperature
S. Ruffenach, M. Moret, O. Briot, B. Gil, Ch. Giesen, M. Heuken, S. Rushworth, T. Leese and M. Succi

AWI Facility Details cont’d from page 1

Frequent meetings and conference calls between the research group in Matsumoto and the research groups in the USA
and the UK allow for recently achieved data to be discussed internally, commented upon and then made available to our
customer base on an individual and confidential basis.

Three ALD Reactors situated in a Class 1000 clean room are available to deposit thin films, layer by layer in a controlled
sequence cycle using specially designed and fit for purpose chemical precursors. Close by is situated a Rapid Thermal
Annealer (RTA) to stabilise the crystal structure of the thin film formed. Further microscopy equipment including a Scanning
Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) is used to examine the surface of the film in
extremely fine detail. Ellipsometry techniques are also available in-house to measure film thicknesses very accurately and
an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) is used to measure not only chemical composition of the film but also its crystallographic
structure. Included in the characterisation tools available is also an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission
Spectrometer (ICP-OES) which measures extremely accurately the qualitative and quantitative components of the material
composition of the films deposited.

350

300 Ti Source
Assessment
250
Thickness (Å)

200

150

100

50

0
0 100 200 300 400 500

Number of ALD cycles

Page 6 SAFC Hitech News

REACH Pre-registration
Successfully Accomplished
Sigma-Aldrich is proud to announce that the first hurdle of the REACH legislation
process has been successfully completed by the pre-registering of several hundred
chemical substances.

On December 1st, 2008 at 24:00 GMT the official REACH pre-registration period ended. During the 6-month period prior
to this date importers and manufacturers of chemicals or formulations in quantities >1000kg per year in the EU had the
opportunity to pre-register their substances at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to benefit from longer transition
periods for final registration. According to the latest info from the ECHA more than 47,000 companies have made more
than 2.2 million (!) pre-registrations for around 54,000 different substances - much higher than expected.

Sigma-Aldrich pre-registered over 1000 entries for 10 different legal entities in Europe. This was only the first little step of
a long ongoing and challenging process of REACH implementation, however, Sigma-Aldrich is committed to complying
with the highest safety standards to assure customer confidence and provide comprehensive information for chemical
handling and usage.

Information for customers about REACH can be found on our website:

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/customer-service/reach.html

A Focus on Procurement in a Global Supply Chain

Sigma-Aldrich collectively purchases about one billion dollars per year of materials and services and a key factor is
ensuring the full value of the Company’s buying leverage to obtain the best quality items for the best price. Just as our
customers wish to obtain the best deal for our products we must review our own supply chain. This involves both
“direct” spend, the materials utilised in manufacturing end products sold to customers, as well as “indirect” spend - all
other goods and services needed to do business. Historically we have performed well in this area but there is always
room for improvement.

A global review is currently ongoing to ensure the most efficient

protocols are in place and the resulting benefits will be better
connectivity with suppliers and an enhanced supply chain which can
provide higher quality, time to delivery and value for money. IT solutions
Sigma-Aldrich Global Supply Chain
®

will reduce paper usage in line with the corporate Green policy as well as
Common Processes - Seamless Integration - Outstanding Service

speeding cycle time, provide facile tracking of the status of the

requisition and purchase orders electronically including follow up with
vendors directly. These outcomes will in turn lead to reduced cost and
optimum value that can be passed on to our customers to maintain the
high quality of service they require and demand.
 Page 7

Tungsten Carbonitride Thin Films

A long-standing collaboration between University College London (UK) and SAFC Hitech has seen recent advances in the
field of coatings on glass. The principles behind these advances can be applied to a wide range of material systems and
have applications in a number of electronic devices to increase speed and reduce feature size.

Claire Carmalt's group at University College London, in collaboration with the SAFC Hitech
research team in Bromborough, used chemical vapour deposition (CVD) to produce thin films
of tungsten carbonitride (WNxCy) from new precursors. WNxCy can be used as an effective
barrier layer to prevent Cu migration from circuit wires into semiconducting components and
the application of CVD to apply coherent films over reduced areas significantly helps scaling
efficiencies.

The precursors investigated included a range of tungsten imido complexes to produce Chemical vapour deposition
produces hard thin films of
compounds with ideal thermal properties for CVD. Careful tuning of the ligands surrounding
tungsten carbonitride
the tungsten centre was performed to optimise these thermal properties to enhance the
fabrication of tungsten carbonitride thin films in the parameter space necessary for devices. The decomposition
mechanism studies and explanation of observed thermal events for each precursor was key in determining storage stability,
transport properties and deposition temperature capabilities. A structured approach was followed to identify the highest
potential molecules in the shortest timeframe and then to demonstrate their effective use in CVD.

In practice four closely related precursors were established for growth trials and all yielded
WNxCy thin films on glass using Low pressure CVD at 550°C. The actual molecules were:
[W(µ-NtBu)(NtBu)Cl2(H2NtBu)]2, [W(NtBu)2Cl2(TMEDA)] (TMEDA = N,N,N',N'-
py
tetramethylethylenediamine), [W(NtBu)2Cl2(py)2] (py = pyridine) and
t Cl
[W(NtBu)2Cl(N{SiMe3}2)]. Grey mirror-like films were grown with a nitrogen or ammonia BuN
bleed gas and in all cases the chlorine content of the deposited films was less than 1 at%.
W
t
BuN Cl
Oxygen levels were decreased using ammonia and, surprisingly, this did not significantly
change the carbon content of the resulting films. The films were uniform, adhesive, abrasion py
resistant, conformal and hard, being resistant to scratching with a steel scalpel. X-ray powder
diffraction patterns of all the films showed the formation of ß-WNxCy. py = pyridine

As a comparison the team also investigated aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition

(AA)CVD using one of the precursors [W(µ-NtBu)(NtBu)Cl2(H2NtBu)]2 and found the resulting layers to be amorphous
tungsten carbonitride films. Further studies are ongoing to understand the differences seen between precursors and
deposition techniques.

Full results have been published (http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/DT/article.asp?doi=b808650h)

For further information contact Claire Carmalt at c.j.carmalt@ucl.ac.uk
Page 8 SAFC Hitech News

Improved Processes and Materials

for Energy Saving Glazing
Partners: SAFC Hitech, Liverpool University, Pilkington
Roles: Precursor selection, Process demonstration, Process scale up

To further expand the areas under investigation at SAFC Hitech, a study into coatings on glass was
proposed. A partnership with Liverpool University and Pilkington was developed to focus the
research direction and due to the highly relevant nature of this work funding support from the UK
government has been granted. In detail a successful application was made to the Technology
Steering Board (TSB) competition relating to Low Impact Building Innovation Platform and a three-year project
(PROMISE) will run to develop new technologies to enhance glazing performance.

Low emissivity glass is playing an increasing role in improving building energy efficiency with a key feature a thin coating
with appropriate refractive index to capture solar energy and reduce heat loss. Alternative precursors and deposition
technologies will be developed to enable next generation products to be brought to market for low impact buildings.

New Regulations for Certification of Containers

The build of SAFC Hitech bubblers, ampoules and cylinders is to the highest of standards
and certification of these containers must follow legislative regulations due to their
classification as pressure vessels. This pressure rating demonstrates that the vessel is
safe and the methods employed also ensure DOT certification is met in
all cases. It is clearly important that the transport of hazardous
chemicals is performed in the safest manner possible and that the strict
road, sea and air regulations are adhered to. DOT certified containers
are guaranteed to meet all specifications and are also a legal
requirement for safe, trouble-free shipping of products both nationally
and internationally.

Each vessel is individually tested using robust protocols when it is fabricated and first
placed into service. With the increasing requirement to re-use containers and extend
their lifetime, the situation regarding retest of the bubblers has risen to a higher profile
and recent new regulations relating to the pressure testing of ampoules have
introduced a validity of 5 years for the certification.

SAFC Hitech must therefore fully re-test every container by the 5th anniversary of its construction to maintain its pressure
rating. The identification of bubblers globally that are at risk of having the pressure certificate expire is currently
underway and customers will be notified of their containers’ status if the time limit
is pressing. SAFC Hitech will offer a pressure re-test and certification service
to ensure customer owned ampoules remain in a transportable state
and issues of shipment blockage due to legislative and safety
concerns are avoided.

For further information of the impact of the impending new protocols

please contact your local SAFC Hitech representative.
 Page 9

Crystal Grade Metal Halides Make Big Impact

SAFC Hitech proudly introduced its first line of products targeted for the radiation
detection market, Crystal Grade Metal Halides, at the IEEE Nuclear Science
Symposia-Medical Imaging Conference (NSS-MIC) that was held in Dresden,
Germany Q4 2008. These products mark a new direction for SAFC Hitech as we
continue to integrate our capabilities and resources and craft offers to new
segments of the electronics market.

The launch at the show was highly successful from the perspectives of sales
performance and branding with many customers visiting our booth for information
on the new product range.

The crystal grade metal halides find applications as scintillation detectors in medical imaging, security detection and
astrophysical equipment. Our high purity products, manufactured at the AAPL facility in Urbana Il in the US, include iodide
salts of sodium, cesium and thallium with new halide salts of lanthanum, strontium and europium under development.

To further support our customers’ efforts, we offer key services that ease
processing, reduce waste disposal complexities and improve overall cost of
ownership. First SAFC Hitech can provide blended halides for doped crystal
growth with high accuracy and control to reduce handling necessities on site.
Secondly we will accept return of unused or scrap Na, Cs or Tl materials for
reprocessing to minimise hazardous waste disposal procedures and cost for the
customer.

In this exciting new area, new and existing SAFC Hitech customers have
approached us for material supply and invitations to participate in joint
development projects. For example, the new scintillator SrI2:Eu has gained significant interest due to its improved
properties. In 2009 our goal is to continue to deliver an exemplary service to our customers. Furthermore, we aim to
reinforce our manufacturing capabilities at Urbana through capital investment and to expand on our current offers to meet
future market demands.

Geoff Irvine Expanded Role

We are pleased to announce the promotion of Geoff Irvine to VP Business Development for SAFC
Hitech. In his new role he will have responsibility for new business development through organic
growth and acquisition, and marketing for Hitech as well as responsibility for AAPL, the Aldrich-APL
Joint Venture, where he serves as President.

Geoff joined Sigma-Aldrich Corporation in 2001 with responsibility for identifying and capitalising
on marketing opportunities to grow the organometallics product line revenue. Geoff’s
responsibilities quickly broadened to include new product development and overall product line
strategy. In early 2003, Geoff moved to the SAFC business unit segment that would subsequently
become SAFC Hitech and indeed was instrumental in the acquisition of the Epichem Group in
2007 and the subsequent integration with the traditional Hitech business to make a powerful force
in the electronics industry.
Page 10 SAFC Hitech News

Cadmium Oxide as an Alternative TCO

Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have found use in a broad array of applications including photovoltaic (PV) cells,
flat panel displays, and light emitting diodes. The dominant material system currently is indium tin oxide (ITO), however,
alternatives are being sought due to the price and availability of In. Face-centred cubic cadmium oxide has a relatively
low intrinsic band gap of 2.28 eV, while its low effective carrier mass allows for heavily doped samples which can have
band gaps as high as 3.35 eV. Sn-doped CdO has been shown to allow access to mobilities of 607 cm2 V-1 s-1 [1]
making it suitable for a large number of TCO applications.

CVD is particularly attractive for TCO synthesis because of its use in conformal, large volume, thin film manufacturing
processes. A key prerequisite for CVD is a volatile precursor and at present only a limited number of examples are
available. Historically, CdO films have been grown via CVD using the combination of dimethylcadmium as a precursor
and butanol as an oxygen source [2]. This dual-source approach leads, naturally, to speculation as to the likelihood of
organocadmium alkoxides as intermediates in this process, and thus such species would be potential single-source
precursors (SSP) in their own right. Indeed, work on the analogous ZnO process identified MeZn(OiPr) as just such an
SSP. [3]

The focus of interest at Bath has been to exploit donor-functionalised alkoxides and so exploration of a series of
reactions between Me2Cd and the requisite alcohol have been performed, and the resulting materials assessed for use
as CVD precursors. In detail the compounds studied involved the ligands in Figure 1.

NMe2

Me2N Me2N NMe2 Me2N NMe2

OH OH OH
I: Hdmae II: Hbdmap III: Htdmap
Figure 1 Functionalised alcohols employed to react with Me2Cd to form MeCd(L) compounds

Characterisation of each of the resulting compounds (MeCd(L)) highlighted

the dimeric nature of the highest potential CVD source, [MeCd(tdmap)]2,
(see Figure 2) and this material was studied in a simple hot wall low pressure
chemical vapour deposition (LPCVD) reactor which has been described in
detail elsewhere.[4] Films were deposited on 76 × 26 × 1.0 mm microscope
slides. A 0.15 g quantity of [MeCd(tdmap)]2 was heated to 140 °C in a tube
furnace under a vacuum of about 0.1 mmHg; the glass substrate was also
heated to 140 °C and the run time was 30 min.

Figure 2 Crystal structure of

[MeCd(tdmap)]2 highlighting
CdOCdO central ring
 Page 11

Thermal treatment of the source showed some decomposition at

T > 100 °C with complete decomposition by 300 °C leaving a mass
corresponding to CdO and indeed in the LPCVD trials at 140 °C smooth,
pale yellow films of approximately 300 nm thickness were formed, which
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) clearly showed contained
cadmium and oxygen (Figure 3). The XRD of these films (Figure 4)
shows crystallinity despite the low deposition temperature and the peaks
can be indexed to cubic CdO highlighting the nature of the film as that
targeted. Interestingly, no carbon was observed in the final film which
suggests a clean decomposition pathway that is accentuated under
vacuum conditions. No ancillary oxygen source was used, making this
the first true example of CdO deposition from an SSP. Figure 3 EDXS of LPCVD film highlighting Cd and O
content (C, Au peaks are due to the sample
Further work has also been performed using the ZnO analogues and preparation, Si results from the exposed
glass substrate)
also CVD trials on mixed ZnO/CdO systems undertaken. Full details of
the results are published [5] and highlight the great promise of these new
precursor families for low temperature TCO deposition.

References
[1] Yan, M. L. M.; Kannewurf, C. R.; Chang, R. P. H. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2001, 78, 234
[2] Irvine, S. J. C.; Ellis, D. M. J. Mater. Sci. 2004, 15, 369
[3] Auld, J., Houlton, D. J., Jones, A.C., Rushworth, S.A., Malik, M. A., O'Brien, P.,
Critchlow, G.W., J. Mater. Chem., 1994, 4(8), 1249-1253
[4] Horley, G. A.; Mahon, M. F.; Molloy, K. C.; Haycock, P. W.; Myers, C. P., Inorg.
Chem. 2002, 41, 5052–5058.
[5] Johnson, A. L., Hollingsworth, N., Kociok-Kohn, G., Molloy, K. C., Inorg. Chem.
Figure 4 XRD of the as deposited film. The
2008, 47, 9706-9715
film is indexed to cubic cadmium
oxide (PDF 75-1529)

The work reported was performed by postgraduate student Nathan Hollingsworth

with the support of SAFC Hitech in the group of Dr A Johnson and Prof KC Molloy.

Conference Representation for 2009

SAFC Hitech personnel will again be at all the key semiconductor conferences and
workshops around the world to network with customers and the scientific community. We
are dedicated to providing state-of-the-art chemicals and services across a wide spectrum
of application areas and deposition technologies to offer a competitive advantage for the
end user.

To convey the full range of our products, both standard and

developmental, our expert representatives will be pleased
to meet you at one of a multitude of forthcoming events, so
please look out for our booth and come along for a chat
about sales enquiries, technical support or just the weather
back home.

Details of events that SAFC Hitech will be attending during the year are detailed on our
website www.safchitech.com and it is updated regularly to be sure the latest information is
available to our customers
Page 12 SAFC Hitech News

SAFC Hitech International Sites

Global email: hitechinfo@sial.com

United Kingdom
SAFC Hitech, Power Road, Bromborough, Wirral,
CH62 3QF
Tel: +44 (0) 151 334 2774
Fax: +44 (0) 151 334 6422

United States
SAFC Hitech, 1429 Hilldale Ave, Haverhill,
Massachusetts, 01832-1300, USA
Tel: 610 706 0606
Fax: 610 706 0888

Japan
Daido Air Products Electronics Inc, 6-17-17,
Shinbashi, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 105 0004 Japan
Tel: +81 3 3432 7032
Fax: +81 3 3578 7827

China
SAFC Hitech, Block 8, Room 803, Mandarine City,
HongXu Road, No 788, Shanghai, China, 201103
Tel: +86 21 6446 1686
Fax: +86 21 6405 4343

Korea
Doje Corporation, 211-2 SongJeong-Dong,
GwangJu, GyungGi-do 464-903 Korea
Tel: +82 31 764 4907
Fax: +82 31 764 4961

Singapore
DNIV, 10 Ang Mo Kio Street 65, #03-04,
TECHPOINT, 569059, Singapore
Tel: +65 6 483 3386
Fax: +65 6 483 2698

Taiwan
SAFC Hitech, 10F No.28 Sec 3, Nan King East
Road, Taipei 104, Taiwan
Tel: +88 62 2509 1399
Fax: +88 62 2501 6279

Europe
Fab Support AB, Dovregatan 18, SE-164 36 Kista,
Sweden
Tel: +46 (0) 8 5620 3330
Fax: +46 (0) 8 5716 2850

LHV
05340 - 508590
0039
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