Catalytic growth rate enhancement of electron beam deposited iron films

Abstract

Submicron (<0.25 μm) wide lines of iron have been deposited by low-energy (0.5–3.0 keV) electron beam induced decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl. Selective area thermal decomposition of iron pentacarbonyl has also been demonstrated. It was found that under certain conditions, the thermal decomposition only occurred on areas where a thin iron film had been previously deposited by electron stimulated decomposition. At 125 °C, the measured thermal decomposition probability was roughly 900 times greater on the deposited iron than previously reported data show for thermal decomposition on bare silicon. Anomalously high deposition yields of 15 to 50 iron atoms per electron were measured during electron stimulated decomposition.