The oxidation of sputtered tantalum films has been studied over a temperature range of 100°–600 °C in oxygen at a gas pressure of 7.6 cm of Hg. The results obtained by means of a vacuum microbalance are compared with data on bulk tantalum, and it is found the rate of oxidation and amount of oxidation is considerably smaller than the bulk. A logarithmic relation was found to represent the data best in the range 400°–600°C. The factors which may give rise to the differences found between the film and the bulk are discussed.
The temperature gradient zone melting process (TGZM) for doping semiconductors is being investigated for the purpose of using it to create the isolation region in a relatively small geometry thyristor. The small size of the chip puts tougher morphological requirements on this liquid zone process than in past TGZM investigations. We discuss here a number of problems encountered which include enhanced diffusion of the aluminum dopant in the silicon, lateral motion of the molten zone at the edge of the wafer, breakup and smearing of the molten zone, and outdiffusion of the aluminum into the passivating oxide layer.
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