ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION OF NICKEL THIN FILMS FOR SPACECRAFT OPTICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

Two approaches for Ni Atomic Layer Deposition on glass substrates have been studied for spacecraft optical applications. The first strategy is to first deposit a NiO thin film and then reduce the metal oxide film using noble gas under high temperature. NiCp2 and O3 as the precursors were chosen due to the low-temperature required for deposition and high growth rate. An alternative pathway was to deposit a Ru metallic film as the adsorption layer, using Ru(DMBD)(CO)3 and H2O, then deposit the Ni metallic film on the Ru film using Ni(DAD)2 and tert-butylamine. The reaction mechanisms for both processes were developed. The ideal theoretical growth rates of these ALD processes were calculated as 2.40 Å/cycle for NiO, 2.19 Å/cycle for Ru and 2.04 Å/cycle for Ni metallic film.