| Abstract: | Zirconium thin films grown on Si substrates by a planar magnetron sputtering system were thermally oxidized at oxygen ambient within 523‐823 K resulting in zirconium oxide films with various stoichiometries. XRD analysis of the ex situ oxidized films revealed the phases at different oxidation temperatures. To achieve a reasonable fit between the experimental and SIMNRA simulated RBS spectra of the prepared samples; it was required to introduce a SiO2buffer layer in the simulated target between Si substrate and ZrO2 film. The presence of this intermediate SiO2 layer was confirmed by observation of SiO2 phase in the XRD patterns of all the thermally oxidized samples. Using RBS analysis data, the effect of oxidation temperature on the stoichiometry of zirconium oxide films and thickness of ZrOxand SiO2 films were investigated. XRD patterns of thermally oxidized Zr films also revealed that crystallization of zirconium oxide films was initiated at about 673 K and was almost completed at 823 K. Diffusion of oxygen atoms through surface layer was investigated and the effective activation energy for oxygen mass transport was estimated to be 1.75 eV using RBS data and Arrhenius relation. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
