Interfacial stability of electroplated copper on a 5nm ruthenium film supported by silicon, Cu∕(5nmRu)∕Si, was investigated using Rutherford backscattering and high-resolution analytical electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging shows that a 5nm Ru film is amorphous in contrast to the columnar microstructures of thicker films (20nm). Direct Cu plating on a 5nm Ru film yielded a homogeneous Cu film with over 90% plating efficiency. It is demonstrated that 5nm Ru can function as a directly plateable Cu diffusion barrier up to at least 300°C vacuum anneal. TEM reveals an interlayer between Ru∕Si, which expands at the expense of Ru upon annealing. Electron energy loss spectroscopy analyses show no oxygen (O) across the Cu∕(5nmRu)∕Si interfaces, thereby indicating that the interlayer is ruthenium silicide (RuxSiy). This silicidation is mainly attributed to the failure of the ultrathin Ru barrier at the higher annealing temperature.

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The formation of voids and bubbles during ion implantation is an important area of material research. Void and bubble formation can result in swelling and embrittlement of metallic or semiconducting materials, and increase catalytic effects in the nanopores of the bubble. Here, we report the observation of metallic nanoblister formation in GaN nanowires under self-ion implantation using a Ga+ focused ion beam. The mechanism of the blister formation was resolved using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy equipped with electron energy loss spectroscopy and plasmon imaging.

Hexagonal to cubic phase transformation is studied in focused ion beam assisted Ga+-implanted GaN nanowires. Optical photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence studies along with highresolution transmission electron microscopic structural studies are performed to confirm the phase transformation. In one possibility, sufficient accumulation of Ga from the implanted source might have reduced the surface energy and simultaneously stabilized the cubic phase. Other potential reason may be that the fluctuations in the short-range order induced by enhanced dynamic annealing (defect annihilation) with the irradiation process stabilize the cubic phase and cause the phase transformation.

Nitrogen (N) and metal (Al, Ga, and In) K-edge x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), and Raman scattering measurements were performed to elucidate the electronic structures of group-III–nitride nanorods and thin films of AlN, GaN, and InN. XANES spectra show slight increase of the numbers of unoccupied N p states in GaN and AlN nanorods, which may be attributed to a slight increase of the degree of localization of conduction band states. The band gaps of AlN, GaN, and InN nanorods are determined by an overlay of XES and XANES spectra to be 6.2, 3.5, and 1.9eV, respectively, which are close to those of AlN and GaN bulk/films and InN polycrystals.