The effect of oxygen partial pressure on the properties of RF-sputtered Al2O3 thin films

Chen, Ga-Lane; Sivertsen, J.M.; Judy, J.

doi:10.1016/0167-577x(84)90023-5

Cited by 12 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The Zr 3d and Y 3d core level photoelectron peaks for the YSZ film do not appear affected by the oxygen deficiencies. Such oxygen deficiencies are common for oxide materials sputtered in a pure Ar environment [67][68][69][70]. Other GM studies have not typically reported the insulator quality, but similar oxygen vacancies are anticipated throughout the literature.…”

Section: Xpssupporting

confidence: 55%

“…Although the YSZ films are highlyresistive (σ GM ∼ 10 7 σ YSZ ), additional conduction pathways may exist as YSZ is an ionic conductor [94] and the sputtered YSZ films are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen vacancies are common for sputtered oxide materials [67][68][69][70], and it is unclear if oxygen vacancies are more prevalent in the present study compared to the literature. However, the defect states in ZrO 2 might be more energetically accessible for trapassisted tunneling [95], which may partially explain the high conductivities at low metal fractions.…”

Section: Island Morphology and Electron Tunnelingmentioning

confidence: 72%

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The effect of metal–insulator interface interactions on electrical transport in granular metals

Gilbert

Rosenberg

Kotula

et al. 2022

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter

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We present an in-depth study of metal–insulator interfaces within granular metal (GM) films and correlate their interfacial interactions with structural and electrical transport properties. Nominally 100 nm thick GM films of Co and Mo dispersed within yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), with volumetric metal fractions (φ) from 0.2–0.8, were grown by radio frequency co-sputtering from individual metal and YSZ targets. Scanning transmission electron microscopy and DC transport measurements find that the resulting metal islands are well-defined with 1.7–2.6 nm average diameters and percolation thresholds between φ = 0.4–0.5. The room temperature conductivities for the φ = 0.2 samples are several orders of magnitude larger than previously-reported for GMs. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy indicates both oxygen vacancy formation within the YSZ and band-bending at metal–insulator interfaces. The higher-than-predicted conductivity is largely attributed to these interface interactions. In agreement with recent theory, interactions that reduce the change in conductivity across the metal–insulator interface are seen to prevent sharp conductivity drops when the metal concentration decreases below the percolation threshold. These interface interactions help interpret the broad range of conductivities reported throughout the literature and can be used to tune the conductivities of future GMs.

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Section: Xpssupporting

confidence: 55%