Structure and properties of zirconia (ZrO₂) films fabricated by plasma-assisted cathodic arc deposition

Abstract

Zirconia (ZrO 2) thin films were prepared on Si (1 0 0) substrates by plasma-assisted cathodic arc deposition under different processing conditions. The structure and phase composition of the zirconia films were investigated by x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Their properties, including the ability to induce the formation of apatite on the surface in a simulated body fluid, and dielectric characteristics were studied. The tetragonal phase predominates in the ZrO 2 film and its surface microstructures are strongly dependent on the processing conditions such as substrate temperature and bias applied during plasma-assisted deposition. The influence of the deposition parameters on the microstructures and properties of the ZrO 2 films was systematically investigated and our results indicate that the desired attributes and performance of the ZrO 2 films can be achieved by optimization of the plasma and deposition processing parameters. Our results provide further insight into producing films of the required quality using plasma-assisted cathodic arc deposition.

Thermal oxidation and nitridation of sputtered Zr thin film on Si via N2O gas

“…This is because those inorganic bonds are inactive in region of mid-infrared (4000-400 cm −1 ) [53,54]. For oxidized samples, transmittance bands of Zr-O vibration mode are detected at around 440 and 580 cm −1 and it is associated with ZrO 2 [55][56][57][58]. Besides, a band at 1100 cm −1 is recorded in all investigated samples.…”

Structural and Optical Properties of Thermally Oxidized Zirconium Dioxide Films

“…These different phases can be tailored made in thin films achieve required hardness, refractive index and optical band gap. Various physical deposition techniques such as thermal oxidation of zirconium films [12,13], electron beam evaporation [14][15][16][17], pulsed laser deposition [18,19], vacuum arc deposition [20,21], DC magnetron sputtering [22][23][24][25], RF magnetron sputtering [26][27][28][29][30], molecular beam epitaxy [31], and chemical deposition methods namely, chemical bath deposition [32], spray pyrolysis [33], sol-gel process [34][35][36] and atomic layer deposition [37,38] were employed for the growth of zirconium dioxide thin films. Among these techniques, magnetron sputtering has the advantage in the growth of films on large area substrates and at low substrate temperatures.…”

Structural and optical characterization of ZrO2 thin films grown on silicon and quartz substrates

“…Zirconia thin films (ZrO 2 ) are one of the transition-metal oxides with outstanding physical, optical and chemical properties [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] including high hardness, low electrical conductivity, high melting point, good thermodynamic stability in contact with silicon, transparency in the visible and near-infrared region, high refractive index, high dielectric constant and large optical band gap [2,10,11].…”