Preparation and characterization of ZnO thin films prepared by thermal oxidation of evaporated Zn thin films

In this paper, the experimental results regarding some structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by thermal oxidation of metallic Zn thin films are presented.Zn thin films (d=200–400 nm) were deposited by thermal evaporation under vacuum, onto unheated glass substrates, using the quasi-closed volume technique. In order to obtain ZnO films, zinc-coated glass substrates were isochronally heated in air in the 300–660 K temperature range, for thermal oxidation.X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that the ZnO films obtained present a randomly oriented hexagonal nanocrystalline structure. Depending on the heating temperature of the Zn films, the optical transmittance of the ZnO films in the visible wavelength range varied from 85% to 95%. The optical band gap of the ZnO films was found to be about 3.2 eV. By in situ studying of the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity during the oxidation process, the value of about 2×10⁻² Ω⁻¹ m⁻¹ was found for the conductivity of completely oxidized ZnO films.     

Oxidation and annealing of thin FeTi layers covered with Pd

The hydrogen storage material FeTi has the disadvantage to lose its sorption capacity in contact with impurities such as O₂ and H₂O. A possibility to overcome this problem is to coat it with an anti-corrosive layer which is permeable for hydrogen. In this study we prepared FeTi layers covered with a (4 or 20 nm) thin Pd layer. We used ion beam and sputter profiling techniques, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry and scanning probe techniques to investigate the response of these bi-layers upon annealing up to 300°C in vacuum, air and 10⁻⁵ mbar O₂. The layered structure remains intact up to 150°C. At 200°C in air and O₂, Fe and (some) Ti move towards the Pd surface where they form oxide regions. At higher temperatures thicker oxide regions, presumably along the Pd grains, are formed. These processes are more pronounced for the case of 4 nm Pd. A model is presented to explain the observed phenomena. We conclude that up to 150°C 4 nm of Pd is sufficient to act as a protective layer. For a temperature of 200°C, 20 nm Pd may still provide sufficient protection against oxidation.     

Synthesis and characterization of Ni-implanted and 200-MeV Ag ion-irradiated CeO2 thin films

CeO₂ thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by using the rf-sputtering technique. The 80-keV Ni^- ion-implanted and, subsequently, post-annealed films have shown the formation of Ni oxide and Ni metallic phases at 7 at% of Ni concentration. Such secondary phases were dissolved by swift heavy ion irradiation with 200-MeV Ag⁺¹⁵ ion beams. Structural properties, surface roughness, and magnetic behavior of the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and hysteresis loop measurements, respectively. Dissolution of secondary phases has been discussed in the light of irradiation-induced local temperature rise and energy loss processes.     

电子束、离子辅助和离子束溅射三种工艺对光学薄膜性能的影响

 运用电子束、离子辅助和离子束溅射三种镀膜工艺分别制备光学薄膜，包括单层氧化物薄膜和增透膜，然后采取一系列测试手段，如Zygo轮廓仪、原子力显微镜、表面热透镜技术和X射线衍射等技术，来分析和研究不同的工艺对这些薄膜性能的不同影响，以判断合理的沉积工艺。     

Formation of biaxial texture in metal films by selective ion beam etching

The formation of in-plane texture via ion bombardment of uniaxially textured metal films was investigated. In particular, selective grain Ar ion beam etching of uniaxially textured (0 0 1) Ni was used to achieve in-plane aligned Ni grains. Unlike conventional ion beam assisted deposition, the ion beam irradiates the uniaxially textured film surface with no impinging deposition flux. The initial uniaxial texture is established via surface energy minimization with no ion irradiation. Within this sequential texturing method, in-plane grain alignment is driven by selective etching and grain overgrowth. Biaxial texture was achieved for ion beam irradiation at elevated temperature.     

The effect of hydrogen on copper nitride thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Copper nitride thin films were deposited on Si (1 0 0) wafers by reactive magnetron sputtering at various H₂/N₂ ratios. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the films are composed of Cu₃N crystallites with anti-ReO₃ structure and exhibit preferred orientation of [1 0 0] direction. Although the relative composition of the films has obviously changes with the H₂/N₂ ratios, the orientations of the films keep almost no changes. However, the grain size, lattice parameter and composition of the films are strongly dependent on the H₂/N₂ ratios. The copper nitride films prepared at 10% H₂/N₂ ratios show poor stability and large weight gain compared to the copper nitride films prepared at 0% H₂/N₂ ratios.     

Magnetization dynamics in thin films and multilayers

The behavior of spin waves is influenced by essentially all the parameters which characterize a magnetic material – exchange interactions, anisotropy, surface effects, dipolar interactions, phase transitions and imperfections. Thus measurements of spin wave frequencies can give important information on characterizing different magnetic materials and structures. In this paper we outline the major results and calculational methods for long-wavelength spin waves in thin films and multilayers. While the primary attention is on ferromagnet-based structures, long-wavelength spin waves in antiferromagnets are also discussed. We indicate how particular measurements of spin wave frequencies can be used to extract the fundamental parameters of the different structures.     

Infrared reflectivity and dielectric permeability of ultra-thin Cu and Al films

In this report we present an experimental investigation of the reflectivity (R) and the dielectric permeability () for Cu and Al ultra-thin films ranging in thickness from a few monolayers to 12 nm at infrared and visible wavelengths. The metal films were prepared by RF-sputtering on SiO₂ (glass) and Si substrates. IR reflectivity was measured at 9.2 μm, while was measured with the help of laser ellipsometer at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. Two types of oscillations on R(d) and (d) were discovered for two thickness regions determined by the critical thickness value d*. Oscillations at d<d* with periods near 0.3 nm for Al and Cu films were observed on R(d) and (d) due to quantum sized effects (QSEs). At d>d* (thickness between 6–12 nm) we discover a new type of strong oscillation of R(d) and (d) with an oscillating period of 0.2 nm. For thickness larger than 12 nm all the oscillations tend to disappear and R and behave almost as their volume values. A possible explanation for the appearance of these two kinds of oscillations is based on the introduction of the critical film thickness d*.     

Study of the structure and electrical properties of the copper nitride thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition

Copper nitride thin films were prepared on glass and silicon substrates by ablating a copper target at different pressure of nitrogen. The films were characterized in situ by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and ex situ by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The nitrogen content in the samples, x = [N]/[Cu], changed between 0 and 0.33 for a corresponding variation in nitrogen pressure of 9 × 10⁻² to 1.3 × 10⁻¹ Torr. Using this methodology, it is possible to achieve sub-, over- and stoichiometric films by controlling the nitrogen pressure. The XPS results show that is possible to obtain copper nitride with x = 0.33 (Cu₃N) and x = 0.25 (Cu₄N) when the nitrogen pressure is 1.3 × 10⁻¹ and 5 × 10⁻² Torr, respectively. The lattice constants obtained from XRD results for copper nitride with x = 0.25 is of 3.850 Å and with x = 0.33 have values between 3.810 and 3.830 Å. The electrical properties of the films were studied as a function of the lattice constant. These results show that the electrical resistivity increases when the lattice parameter is decreasing. The electrical resistivity of copper nitride with x = 0.25 was smaller than samples with x = 0.33.     

Very high coercivities of top-layer diffusion Au/FePt thin films

The Au/FePt samples were prepared by depositing a gold cap layer at room temperature onto a fully ordered FePt layer, followed by an annealing at 800 °C for the purpose of interlayer diffusion. After the deposition of the gold layer and the high-temperature annealing, the gold atoms do not dissolve into the FePt Ll₀ lattice. Compared with the continuous FePt film, the TEM photos of the bilayer Au(60 nm)/FePt(60 nm) show a granular structure with FePt particles embedded in Au matrix. The coercivity of Au(60 nm)/FePt(60 nm) sample is 23.5 kOe, which is 85% larger than that of the FePt film without Au top layer. The enhancement in coercivity can be attributed to the formation of isolated structure of FePt ordered phase.     

Morphology of alkali halide thin films

Two alkali halide adsorbate-substrate systems were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) working in contact mode. Adsorbate film orientation relative to the substrate was determined from the arrangement of the atomic steps of the substrate and the edges of the forming islands. In this work we present experimental results obtained for systems: NaCl/LiF(0 0 1) and LiF/NaCl(0 0 1), which exhibit a strong tendency of the self-assembly into regular structures.     

Preparation of CuInS2 thin films by metal-organic decomposition

Metal-organic decomposition (MOD) technique has been developed as a low cost thin film CuInS₂ preparation method for solar cell application. XRD and Raman spectra measurement revealed that deposited films contain CuInS₂. Stoichiometric films with a bandgap of 1.53 eV and an FWHM of 0.45° were obtained from a solution with Cu/In=1.5.     

Ferromagnetism in transition-metal-doped semiconducting oxide thin films

A rather complete work on transition-metal (TM)-doped TiO₂ thin films has been done and room ferromagnetism (FM) is found in the whole series of Sc/V/Cr/Mn/Fe/Co/Ni-doped TiO₂ films. Not only is it remarkable that for the first time, FM at high temperature was achieved in TM-doped TiO₂, but also a very big magnetic moment of 4.2μ_B/atom could be obtained, and direct evidences of real ferromagnets with big domains were shown as well. A similar chemical trend was achieved in TM-doped In₂O₃ films, however, the observed magnetic moment is rather modest, with the maximal value is of only 0.7μ_B/atom for Ni-doped In₂O₃ films. As regards TM-doped SnO₂ films, observed magnetic moments could be very large, with the maximum saturation of 6μ_B per impurity atom for Cr-doped SnO₂ thin films, but it could be influenced very much depending on substrate types. On the other hand, results on TM-doped ZnO films interestingly have revealed that in these systems, the magnetism more likely resulted from defects and/or oxygen vacancies.     

The thickness dependence of the crystallization behavior in sandwiched amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films

The thickness dependent crystallization behavior of thin amorphous Ge₂Sb₂Te₅(GST) films sandwiched between different cladding materials has been investigated based on a thermodynamic model. It is revealed that there is a critical thickness below which the crystallization cannot occur. The critical thickness is determined by the energy difference Δγ between the crystalline GST/substrate interface energy and the amorphous GST/substrate interface energy, the melting enthalpy, and the mole volume. The calculated result is in good agreement with the experiments. Furthermore, the crystallization temperature is also affected by interface energy difference Δγ. Larger Δγ gives rise to a higher crystallization temperature, and vice versa. This impact becomes stronger as the film thickness is decreased.     

Electronic transport mechanisms in tetraphenyleprophyrin thin films

Thermally-evaporated thin films of tetraphenylporphyrin, TPP, with thickness range from (175 to 735) nm had been prepared. Annealing temperatures ranging from (273–473) K do not influence the amorphous structure of these films. The influence of environmental conditions: film thickness, temperature and frequency on the electrical properties of TPP thin films had been reported. It was found that dc conductivity increases with increasing temperature and film thickness. The extrinsic conduction mechanism is operating in temperature range of (293–380) K with activation energy of 0.13 eV. The intrinsic one is in temperatures >380 K via phonon assisted hopping of small polaron with activation energy of 0.855 eV. The ac electrical conductivity and dielectric relaxation in the temperature range (293–473) K and in frequency range (0.1–100) kHz had been also studied. It had been shown that theoretical curves generated from correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model gives the best fitting with experimental results. Analysis of these results proved that conduction occurs at low temperatures (300–370) K by phonon assisted hopping between localized states and it is performed by single polaron hopping process at higher temperatures. The temperature and frequency dependence of both the real and imaginary parts of dielectric constant had been reported.     

Electrodeposition and growth mechanism of SnSe thin films

Tin selenide (SnSe) thin films were electrochemically deposited onto Au(1 1 1) substrates from an aqueous solution containing SnCl₂, Na₂SeO₃, and EDTA at room temperature (25 °C). The electrochemical behaviors and the codeposition potentials of Sn and Se were explored by cyclic voltammetry. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy were employed to characterize the thin films. When the electrodeposition potential increased, the Se content in the films decreased. It was found that the stoichiometric SnSe thin films could be obtained at −0.50 V. The as-deposited films were crystallized in the preferential orientation along the (1 1 1) plane. The morphologies of SnSe films could be changed from spherical grains to platelet-like particles as the deposition potential increases. The SEM investigations show that the film growth proceeds via nucleation, growth of film layer and formation of needle-like particles on the overlayer of the film. The optical absorption study showed the film has direct transition with band gap energy of 1.3 eV.     

Structural and photoluminescence properties of SnO2 obtained by thermal oxidation of evaporated Sn thin films

Tin oxide films have been prepared by oxidation of Sn thin films deposited by thermal evaporation method onto glass substrates. The oxidation of films was done, in air at a temperature of 500 °C, from 20 to 120 min. The oxidized films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and surface profilometer. The XRD patterns show that the crystalline structure of the oxidized Sn films improves with the annealing time. The tetragonal SnO₂ phase (cassiterite) was obtained after 120 min of annealing with grains sizes between 15 and 20 nm. The thickness of oxide films, as function of the annealing time, follows a parabolic law. The O/Sn atomic ratio increases with the annealing time indicating an improvement of the films quality. Tin interstitials defects density, calculated from PL spectra using Smakula's formula, was found to decrease with the increasing annealing time. Tin interstitials defects density was found proportional to the increasing oxygen density (deduced from RBS). A fit of this proportionality allowed us to quantify the tin cations and oxygen anions diffused through the oxide films.     

Adhesion and stress of magnesium oxide thin films: Effect of thickness, oxidation temperature and duration

Nanoscale magnesium oxide thin films have been deposited on glass substrate by thermal oxidation (in air) of vacuum evaporated magnesium films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed orientation along (2 0 0) and (2 2 0) directions. The mechanical properties of the MgO thin films were found to be the function of thickness (300, 450 and 600 nm), oxidation temperature (573, 623 and 673 K) and oxidation duration (90 and 180 min). As oxidation temperature and oxidation duration increases, adhesion and intrinsic stress were found to increase. Intrinsic stress decreased whereas adhesion increased due to increase in thin film thickness. The value of intrinsic stress was in range 28.902-73.212 (×10⁷ N/m²) and that of adhesion was 12.1-27.4 (×10⁴ N/m²) for the thin film of thickness 300 nm.     

Investigations on the mechanism of carrier transport in plasma polymerized pyrrole thin films

Plasma polymerization is found to be an excellent technique for the preparation of good quality, pinhole-free, polymer thin films from different monomer precursors. The present work describes the preparation and characterization of polypyrrole (PPy) thin films by ac plasma polymerization technique in their pristine and in situ iodine doped forms. The electrical conductivity studies of the aluminium-polymer-aluminium (Al-polymer-Al) structures have been carried out and a space charge limited conduction (SCLC) mechanism is identified as the most probable mechanism of carrier transport in these polymer films. The electrical conductivity shows an enhanced value in the iodine doped sample. The reduction of optical band gap by iodine doping is correlated with the observed conductivity results.     

Multilayer thin film thickness measurement using sensitivity separation method

This paper, for the first time, proposed a new sensitivity separation (SS) method for measuring thicknesses of multilayer thin-film stack with high efficiency and accuracy. Through the analysis of the relationship between the film parameters and the mean misfit error (MSE), a parameter called sensitivity is defined. With this parameter, an estimated rational thickness is assigned to a layer with lower sensitivity first, and then the layer thickness with high sensitivity is further obtained by optimization techniques. This method will greatly reduce the searching range and increase the iterating efficiency. It is a pretreatment method and it can be used with other optimization methods. Both theory and simulation results are provided in detail. The uncertainty problems are discussed and examples are given to verify the effectiveness of this method.