GROWTH STUDIES OF METAL-METAL/SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO PROVIDE A WEALTH OF CRUCIAL DATA ON COMMERCIALLY RELEVANT HETEROSTRUCTURE MATERIALS. THE DATA WILL INVOLVE REASONABLY ACCURATE METAL, SEMICONDUCTOR, INSULATOR INTERACTIONS TO OBTAIN CONDITIONS OF GROWTH AND POSSIBLY NOVEL GROWTH APPROACHES VIA COMPUTER SIMULATIONS. THE RESEARCH PROGRAM PROPOSES IS THUS AN ESSENTIAL STEP TOWARDS REALISTIC SIMULATION OF GROWTH PROCESSES IN COMMERCIALLY RELEVANT ELECTRONIC MATERIALS. THE RESEARCH INVOLVES THE APPLICATION OF BOTH EFFECTIVE MEDIUM THEORIES AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO MODEL THE ATOMIC INTERACTIONS AND OF COMPUTER "EXPERIMENTS" TO PERFORM AND UNDERSTAND THE FORMATION OF HETEROSTRUCTURES, BETWEEN METAL, SEMICONDUCTOR, AND INSULATOR MATERIALS. BESIDES PROVIDING A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF THE INITIAL AND SUBSEQUENT STAGES OF THE GROWTH FRONT AND INTERFACE, THIS RESEARCH IS ALSO EXPECTED TO PRODUCE A COMPUTER PROGRAM TO BE MARKETED INDEPENDENTLY OR COMBINED WITH OTHER RELATED PACKAGES. PHASE I RESEARCH INVOLVES INVESTIGATION OF THE DETAILED DYNAMICS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF ATOMS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLES OF ENERGETICS AND DYNAMICS IN CONTROLLING EPITAXIAL GROWTH. APPLICATIONS TO AT LEAST ONE METAL-METAL AND METAL-SEMICONDUCTORS, SUCH AS CU/FE AND FE/SI OR GE IS PLANNED. MORE COMPLEX DYNAMICAL PROCESSES OCCURRING NEAR INTERFACES WHICH INCLUDE SEMICONDUCTOR ON INSULATORS AND DEVICES WILL BE STUDIED IN PHASE II. INNOVATIVE SIMULATION METHODOLOGIES WILL BE DEVELOPED AND EMPLOYED TO DESCRIBE NONEQUILIBRIUM GROWTH.