Updates in Applied Physics and Electrical Technology – serie

This book has been written as part of a new series of scientific text-books being published by Plenum Publishing Company Limited. The scope of the series is to review a chosen topic in each volume, and in addition, to present abstracts of the most important references cited in the text. Thus allowing the reader to supplement the information contained within this book without have to refer to many additional publications. This volume is devoted to the subject of Radiation Detectors, known as Photodetectors, and particular emphasis has been placed on devices operating in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Although some detectors which are sensitive at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, are also described. The existence of the infrared region of the spectrum has been known for almost two hundred years but the development of detectors specifically for these wavelengths was limited for a long time due to technology limitations and difficulties in understanding and explaining the phenomena involved. Significant advances were made during World War II, when the potential military applications of being able "to see in the dar~' were demonstrated, and this progress has been maintained during the last forty years when many major advances have been achieved, such that the use of photodetectors for both civil and military applications is now relatively common and can be inexpensive.

This book is the second in a series of scientific textbooks designed to cover advances in selected research fields from a basic and general viewpoint, so that only limited knowledge is required to understand the significance of recent developments. Further assistance for the non-specialist is provided by the summary of abstracts in Part 2, which includes many of the major papers published in the research field. Crystal Growth of Semiconductor Materials has been the subject of numerous books and reviews and the fundamental principles are now well-established. We are concerned chiefly with the deposition of atoms onto a suitable surface - crystal growth - and the generation of faults in the atomic structure during growth and subsequent cooling to room temperature - crystal defect structure. In this book I have attempted to show that whilst the fundamentals of these processes are relatively simple, the complexities of the interactions involved and the individuality of different materials systems and growth processes have ensured that experimentally verifiable predictions from scientific principles have met with only limited success - good crystal growth remains an art. However, recent advances, which include the reduction of growth temperatures, the reduction or elimination of reactant transport variables and the use of better-controlled energy sources to promote specific reactions, are leading to simplified growth systems.

In the last few years the subject of optical cornmunications has moved rapidly from being a promising research area to a practical reality already being installed and carrying traffic in trunk networks in many countries. At the same time new applications for fibre technology are emerging and are placing new demands on the system components. In telecommunications there is a steady increase of interest in the use of fibres for undersea cables, in local area networks and wideband links, and a little further ahead the possibility of coherent communications systems. With an optical carrier bandwidth of 200 THz, today's maximum bit rates of the order of Gb s-l do not approach the limits of the medium, and questions about the ultimate limits of optical communications are already being asked. On a different front, the rapid advance of fibre sensors, previously drawing heavily on the communications technology, is becoming a major driving force in the development of fibres and other components. This picture of dramatic growth in optical technology gives rise to other phenomena. A profusion of small companies mushrooms to meet the demands of specific market areas, each such company formed around a nucleus of experienced personnel from the established research groups. Multi-­ nationals jostle for position in the optoelectronics marketplace and price wars develop as fibre costs fall. University groups expand with government and industrial funding in attempts to maintain long-term research options and produce trained personnei.

This book has been written as part of a series of scientific books being published by Plenum Press. The scope of the series is to review a chosen topic in each volume. To supplement this information, the abstracts to the most important references cited in the text are reprinted, thus allowing the reader to find in-depth material without having to refer to many additional publications. This volume is dedicated to the field of dry (plasma) etching, as applied in silicon semiconductor processing. Although a number of books have appeared dealing with this area of physics and chemistry, these all deal with parts of the field. This book is unique in that it gives a compact, yet complete, in-depth overview of fundamentals, systems, processes, tools, and applications of etching with gas plasmas for VLSI. Examples are given throughout the fundamental sections, in order to give the reader a better insight in the meaning and magnitude of the many parameters relevant to dry etching. Electrical engineering concepts are emphasized to explain the pros and cons of reactor concepts and excitation frequency ranges. In the description of practical applications, extensive use is made of cross-referencing between processes and materials, as well as theory and practice. It is thus intended to provide a total model for understanding dry etching. The book has been written such that no previous knowledge of the subject is required. It is intended as a review of all aspects of dry etching for silicon semiconductor processing.

This book is t~e fifth in aseries of scientific textbooks designed to cover advances in selected research fields from a basic and general view­ point. The reader is taken carefully but rapidly through the introductory material in order that t~e significance of recent developments can be understood with only limited initial knowledge. The inclusion in the Appendix of the abstracts of many of the more important papers in the field provides further assistance for the non-specialist, and acts as aspringboard to supplementary reading for those who wish to consult the original liter­ ature. Surface analysis has been the subject of numerous books and review articles, and the fundamental scientific principles of t~e more popular techniques are now reasonably weIl established. This book is concerned with the very powerful techniques of Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AES and XPS), with an emphasis on how they may be performed as part of a modern analytical facility. Since the development of AES and XPS in the late 1960s and early 1970s there have been great strides forward in the sensitivities and resolutions of the instrumentation. Simultaneously, these spectroscopies have undergone a veritable explosion, both in their acceptance alongside more routine ana1ytical techniques and in the range of problems and materials to which they are applied. As a result, many researchers in industry and in academia now come into contact with AES and XPS not as specialists, but as users.

This book has been written as part of a new series of scientific text-books being published by Plenum Publishing Company Limited. The scope of the series is to review a chosen topic in each volume, and in addition, to present abstracts of the most important references cited in the text. Thus allowing the reader to supplement the information contained within this book without have to refer to many additional publications. This volume is devoted to the subject of Radiation Detectors, known as Photodetectors, and particular emphasis has been placed on devices operating in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Although some detectors which are sensitive at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, are also described. The existence of the infrared region of the spectrum has been known for almost two hundred years but the development of detectors specifically for these wavelengths was limited for a long time due to technology limitations and difficulties in understanding and explaining the phenomena involved. Significant advances were made during World War II, when the potential military applications of being able "to see in the dar~' were demonstrated, and this progress has been maintained during the last forty years when many major advances have been achieved, such that the use of photodetectors for both civil and military applications is now relatively common and can be inexpensive.

This book is the second in a series of scientific textbooks designed to cover advances in selected research fields from a basic and general viewpoint, so that only limited knowledge is required to understand the significance of recent developments. Further assistance for the non-specialist is provided by the summary of abstracts in Part 2, which includes many of the major papers published in the research field. Crystal Growth of Semiconductor Materials has been the subject of numerous books and reviews and the fundamental principles are now well-established. We are concerned chiefly with the deposition of atoms onto a suitable surface - crystal growth - and the generation of faults in the atomic structure during growth and subsequent cooling to room temperature - crystal defect structure. In this book I have attempted to show that whilst the fundamentals of these processes are relatively simple, the complexities of the interactions involved and the individuality of different materials systems and growth processes have ensured that experimentally verifiable predictions from scientific principles have met with only limited success - good crystal growth remains an art. However, recent advances, which include the reduction of growth temperatures, the reduction or elimination of reactant transport variables and the use of better-controlled energy sources to promote specific reactions, are leading to simplified growth systems.

This book is t~e fifth in aseries of scientific textbooks designed to cover advances in selected research fields from a basic and general view­ point. The reader is taken carefully but rapidly through the introductory material in order that t~e significance of recent developments can be understood with only limited initial knowledge. The inclusion in the Appendix of the abstracts of many of the more important papers in the field provides further assistance for the non-specialist, and acts as aspringboard to supplementary reading for those who wish to consult the original liter­ ature. Surface analysis has been the subject of numerous books and review articles, and the fundamental scientific principles of t~e more popular techniques are now reasonably weIl established. This book is concerned with the very powerful techniques of Auger electron and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AES and XPS), with an emphasis on how they may be performed as part of a modern analytical facility. Since the development of AES and XPS in the late 1960s and early 1970s there have been great strides forward in the sensitivities and resolutions of the instrumentation. Simultaneously, these spectroscopies have undergone a veritable explosion, both in their acceptance alongside more routine ana1ytical techniques and in the range of problems and materials to which they are applied. As a result, many researchers in industry and in academia now come into contact with AES and XPS not as specialists, but as users.

This book has been written as part of a series of scientific books being published by Plenum Press. The scope of the series is to review a chosen topic in each volume. To supplement this information, the abstracts to the most important references cited in the text are reprinted, thus allowing the reader to find in-depth material without having to refer to many additional publications. This volume is dedicated to the field of dry (plasma) etching, as applied in silicon semiconductor processing. Although a number of books have appeared dealing with this area of physics and chemistry, these all deal with parts of the field. This book is unique in that it gives a compact, yet complete, in-depth overview of fundamentals, systems, processes, tools, and applications of etching with gas plasmas for VLSI. Examples are given throughout the fundamental sections, in order to give the reader a better insight in the meaning and magnitude of the many parameters relevant to dry etching. Electrical engineering concepts are emphasized to explain the pros and cons of reactor concepts and excitation frequency ranges. In the description of practical applications, extensive use is made of cross-referencing between processes and materials, as well as theory and practice. It is thus intended to provide a total model for understanding dry etching. The book has been written such that no previous knowledge of the subject is required. It is intended as a review of all aspects of dry etching for silicon semiconductor processing.