Energy exchanges between atoms with a quartz crystal $\mu$-balance

TL;DR

This paper introduces an experimental method using a Quartz Crystal μ-balance to measure energy exchanges during physical vapor deposition, enabling better control of thin film properties.

Contribution

The study presents a novel technique to directly observe atom energy exchanges and desorption dynamics during vapor deposition, improving process control and material property tuning.

Findings

Measured momentum exchange of atoms during evaporation.

Determined ideal evaporation rates for uniform energy distribution.

Validated results against existing measurement techniques.

Abstract

We propose an experimental method to fully characterize the energy exchange of particles during the physical vapor deposition process of thin surface layers. Our approach is based on the careful observation of perturbations of the oscillation frequency of a Quartz Crystal $\mu$-balance induced by the particles interaction. With this technique, it is possible to measure the momentum exchange of the atoms during the evaporation process and determine the ideal evaporation rate for an uniform energy distribution. We are able to follow the desorption dynamics of particles immediately after the first layers have been formed. These results are in close relation to the surface binding energy of the evaporated material, they offer a better control to obtain the desired properties of the thin surface layer. We applied our technique to investigate the physical vapor evaporation process for diverse elements, usually implemented in the development of film surface layers, such as Cu, W, Au, Gd and In, and confirm that our results are in agreement with measurements done previously with other techniques such as low-temperature photoluminescence.