Modification of the optical and structural properties of dielectric ZrO2 films by ion-assisted deposition

Abstract

Low-energy bombardment by argon and oxygen ions has been used in the deposition of thin dielectric films of ZrO2. The film packing density has been improved from 0.83 to unity with a corresponding increase in the refractive index from 1.84 to 2.19. The highest stable refractive index measured was 2.23 for oxygen ion-assisted deposition of ZrO2 on a substrate heated to 300 °C. Ion bombardment during condensation of evaporated ZrO2 on a room temperature substrate results in crystallization into the cubic phase which is consistent with previous studies of ion impact crystallization by thermal-spike processes. At elevated substrate temperatures the monoclinic phase is also present.

Electronic structures and optical properties of monoclinic ZrO2 studied by first-principles local density approximation + U approach

“…by LDA without U), which is close to the experimental value (n = 2.07 [24], 2.04 [25], and 1.932 [26]). Additional information is provided in Fig.…”

Tailoring of structure formation and phase composition in reactively sputtered zirconium oxide films using nitrogen as an additional reactive gas

“…The simultaneous bombardment with fast ions or substrate heating resulted in the formation of a cubic ZrO 2 phase. 1,16,17 This effect was attributed to thermal spikes leading to the nucleation of cubic grains. Since the surface energy of the cubic grains is smaller than that of monoclinic or tetragonal grains, these nuclei are expected to be stable at sufficiently small grain sizes.…”

“…In all cases, the crystal structure and the phase composition of ZrO 2 films were found to be strongly affected by the energy input during growth with ion beam assisted deposition ͑IBAD͒, i.e., substrate temperature and bombardment by energetic species. 1 Among the various techniques, reactive magnetron sputtering from a metallic target 2 is widely used since it combines relatively high deposition rates, good homogeneity, and process flexibility. Generally, the reactive sputter process with oxygen is characterized by three different distinct process modes depending on the oxygen gas flow as described by the model proposed by Berg and Nyberg.…”

Biaxial stresses, surface roughness and microstructure in evaporated TiO2 films with different deposition geometries

“…higher porosity), then the lower the refractive index. Thus the refractive index of films is related to the film density [16]. The results show that the refractive index of TiO 2 films deposited with a mask is higher than that of without mask.…”