Polycrystalline Metal and Magnetic Thin Films, 2000 Symposium Held April 25-27, 2000, San Francisco, California, U.S.A

The unprecedented growth in the semiconductor, electronics, and storage industries is the result of continued miniaturization of circuit devices, increases in chip functionality, and increased storage capacity and performance, along with a decrease in per-function cost. Hardware shrinkage has taken place both laterally and vertically, leading to similar decreases in the dimensions of interconnection wires, contact metallization, and magnetic storage footprints. The increasingly important role of surfaces, interfaces, defects, and impurities has raised serious materials questions about how to control the properties of polycrystalline thin films used in applications requiring tight performance tolerances. This is especially true as the dimensions of these films shrink to levels where 100 or less atomic layers are routinely being used to achieve critical materials properties (contact resistance, diffusion barriers, magnetic moments, etc.). The understanding of poly-crystalline film structures during growth and the evolution of various film properties with time and temperature is critical to the successful design and development of smaller devices. This volume focuses on the directions taken to understand and control the properties of polycrystalline materials.Gignac, L. is the author of 'Polycrystalline Metal and Magnetic Thin Films, 2000 Symposium Held April 25-27, 2000, San Francisco, California, U.S.A' with ISBN 9781558995239 and ISBN 1558995234.