Department of Chemistry

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	Irene Group Research Projects

	Ultra-thin Dielectric Films for Microelectronics Applications

	We are interested in the very initial stage of film formation, the nucleation stage, which we can observe directly in the film formation environment using optical techniques. The objective of this research is to understand and then be able to modify film nucleation, in order to optimize the electronics properties.



	Complex Oxide Films for Superconductor, Ferroelectric and High Dielectric Constant Applications

	Recently we have commenced studies of high temperature superconductor films and high dielectric constant dielectric films which include in situ real-time analysis during ion beam sputter deposition using ion scattering spectroscopy combined with ellipsometry. Also, we continue to study silicon based thin film materials that photo- and electro-luminescence for electro-optics applications and metal silicide films for gate contacts.


	Thin Film Organic Semiconductors and Devices

	We have commenced a synthesis and characterization study of organic films that display semiconducting properties. We follow the film formation process in situ and in real time using spectroscopic ellipsometry. We intend to construct transistors and to electronically characterize the devices and intend to investigate the chemical underpinnings for the promising electronic properties. Selected Research Reviews Suvorova, NA; Lopez, CM; Irene, EA; Suvorova, AA; Saunders, M. 2004. Comparison of interfaces for (Ba,Sr)TiO3 films deposited on Si and SiO2/Si substrates. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 95 (5): 2672-2675. Losurdo, M; Bruno, G; Irene, EA. 2003. Anisotropy of optical properties of conjugated polymer thin films by spectroscopic ellipsometry. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 94 (8): 4923-4929. Jones, CA; Yang, DX; Irene, EA; Gross, SM; Wagner, M; DeYoung, J; DeSimone, JM. 2003. HF etchant solutions in supercritical carbon dioxide for "Dry" etch processing of microelectronic devices. CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS 15 (15): 2867-2869. Goncalves, D; Irene, EA. 2003. The protective nature of dodecanethiol self-assembled monolayers deposited on Au for the electropolymerization of 3-methylthiophene. ELECTROANALYSIS 15 (7): 652-658. Mueller, AH; Suvorova, NA; Irene, EA; Auciello, O; Schultz, JA. 2003. Model for interface formation and the resulting electrical properties for barium-strontium-titanate films on silicon. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 93 (7): 3866-3872. Goncalves, D; Irene, EA. 2002. Fundamentals and applications of spectroscopic ellipsometry (vol 25, pg 794, 2002). QUIMICA NOVA 25 (6A): 1050-1050. "Models for the Oxidation of Silicon." E.A. Irene, CRC Critical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Science, Ed. J.E. Greene, Vol 14(2), pp 175-223 (1988). "Applications of Spectroscopic Ellipsometry to Microelectronics." E.A. Irene, presented at First International Conference on Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, Paris, France, Jan. 11-14, 1993 and Thin Solid Films, 233, 96 (1993). "In Situ Ellipsometry in Microelectronics." E.A. Irene and J.A. Woollam, Materials Res. Soc. Bull., Vol XX, 24 (1995). "In Situ Real-Time Characterization of Thin Films.", Eds, O. Auciello and A. B. Krauss, Wiley Interscience, (2001), Chapter 3 "In Situ Real-Time Characterization of Surfaces and Film Growth Processes Via Ellipsometry." E.A. Irene "In Situ Real-Time Characterization of Oxide Film Growth and Other Processes Via Spectroscopic Ellipsometry", E.A. Irene, Chapter for Volume 28 of the Annual Review of Materials Science, accepted for 2000.

Department of Chemistry
Campus Box 3290
Caudill and Kenan Laboratories
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290 USA
Phone: (919) 843-7100