Dr. Brian McBurnett
California State University, Chico

"Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt Germanium Materials"

As device dimensions shrink in silicon-based microelectronics, new materials and processes are needed to overcome the shortcomings of conventional technologies. Recently, there has been increased interest in the development of SixGe1-x-based materials for high-frequency devices and the proposed contact material for these devises is CoGe2. In order to synthesize this material, elementally modulated thin films of Co and Ge of differing multilayer thicknesses and composition were fabricated using Physical Vapor Deposition. Phase formation, film multilayer repeat thickness and composition were monitored using GIXRD, XRR, and EPMA respectively.