Phenomenological Model of the Growth of Ultrasmooth Silver Thin Films Deposited with a Germanium Nucleation Layer.

The structural properties of optically thin (15 nm) silver (Ag) films deposited on SiO2/Si(100) substrates with a germanium (Ge) nucleation layer were studied. The morphological and crystallographical characteristics of Ag thin films with different Ge nucleation layer thicknesses were assessed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (GIXRD), X-ray reflection (XRR), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The surface roughness of Ag thin films was found to decrease significantly by inserting a Ge nucleation layer with a thickness in the range of 1 to 2 nm (i.

Ultrasmooth silver thin films deposited with a germanium nucleation layer.

We demonstrate an effective method for depositing smooth silver (Ag) films on SiO(2)/Si(100) substrates using a thin seed layer of evaporated germanium (Ge). The deposited Ag films exhibit smaller root-mean-square surface roughness, narrower peak-to-valley surface topological height distribution, smaller grain-size distribution, and smaller sheet resistance in comparison to those of Ag films directly deposited on SiO(2)/Si(100) substrates. Optically thin ( approximately 10-20 nm) Ag films deposited with approximately 1-2 nm Ge nucleation layers show more than an order of magnitude improvement in the surface roughness.

Line-addressable digital-deflection programmable micromirror array.

We report a novel digital-deflection programmable micromirror array driven by micromechanical digital-to-analog converters that eliminates the need for electrical digital-to-analog converters for analog displacement control, thus simplifying the driving circuitry and reducing the overall system cost. Furthermore, owing to the bistable and hysteretic characteristics of parallel-plate electrostatic actuators, an array of micromirrors can be controlled by means of row- and column-addressing lines, which drastically reduce the number of routing wires and allow array sizes to increase while they maintain high array quality.