Low-temperature catalyzed formation of segmented nanowire of dielectric material

• US 20070004225A1
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Donghui, Chen, Zhan
• Application Number:
  US11/174,076
• Publication Number:
  US 20070004225A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/778
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 11/12 Vaporous components, e.g. vapour-liquid-solid-growth
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/005 Growth of whiskers or needles
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 25/105 by irradiation or electric discharge
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/38 Nitrides
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 29/605 Products containing multiple oriented crystallites, e.g. columnar crystallites

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method of forming a segmented nanowire including: providing a substrate; pre-cleaning the substrate; pre-treating the substrate; forming and placing a catalyst over the substrate; and forming the segmented nanowire over the catalyst with recurring pulses of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of a dielectric material.

Claims

1. A method of forming a segmented nanowire comprising:

providing a substrate;

pre-cleaning said substrate;

pre-treating said substrate;

forming and placing a catalyst over said substrate; and

forming said segmented nanowire over said catalyst with recurring pulses of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of a dielectric material.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said dielectric material comprises silicon nitride with some hydrogen.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said dielectric material comprises silicon nitride that is not stoichiometric.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said PECVD comprises a deposition temperature of 350-450 degrees Centigrade.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising annealing said nanowire.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising ion implanting said substrate prior to forming and placing said catalyst.

7. A method of forming an array of nanowires having a length comprising:

providing a substrate, said substrate having a layer, said layer having a surface, said surface having features;

pre-cleaning said substrate;

pre-treating said substrate;

forming a catalyst over said substrate;

patterning said catalyst over said features;

selecting a first set of process parameters;

forming a first segment over said catalyst;

selecting a second set of process parameters;

forming a second segment over said first segment; and

alternating between selecting another set of process parameters and forming another segment until said length has been achieved.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said first segment is formed with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of a dielectric material.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising aligning said nanowires in said array.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said first segment is formed by tip growth.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said first segment is formed by base (or root) growth.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said first segment is formed by mixed growth.

14. The nanowire of claim 10 wherein said dielectric material comprises silicon nitride with some hydrogen.

15. The nanowire of claim 10 wherein said smaller dimension, such as may be analogous to a width or a diameter, may include 1-3 nanometers.

16. The nanowire of claim 10 wherein said larger dimension, such as may be analogous to a length, may include 0.006-0.050 microns.

17. The nanowire of claim 10 wherein said nanowire forms part of an array of nanowires.

18. The nanowire of claim 14 wherein said array further comprises spaces between adjacent nanowires.

19. The nanowire of claim 14 further comprising a catalyst at or near its base (or root).

20. The nanowire of claim 14 further comprising a catlyst at or near its tip.

13. A nanowire of dielectric material comprising a plurality of segments wherein each segment may include a characteristic shape, cross-section, interior portion, exterior portion, spatial arrangement, orientation angle, stiffness, smaller dimension, and larger dimension.