Epitaxial Growth of Magnetron-Sputtered ZrB2 Films on Si(100) Substrates

Epitaxial growth of ZrB2 films on Si(100) substrates at 900 degrees C is demonstrated using direct-current magnetron sputter deposition from sintered ZrB2 targets. This case of epitaxial growth is structurally more challenging than on Si(111), 4 H-SiC(001), and Al2O3(001). From pole figure measurements, two epitaxial relationships are determined: A) in-plane: ZrB 2 [ 001 ] parallel to Si [ 110 ] and ZrB 2 [ 110 ] parallel to Si [ 110 ] , out-of-plane: ZrB 2 ( 100 ) parallel to Si ( 100 ) , and B) in-plane: ZrB 2 [ 1 2 over bar 1 ] parallel to Si [ 110 ] and the same multiply rotated 90 degrees around the 102 axis, out of plane: ZrB 2 ( 102 ) parallel to Si ( 100 ) . From full width at half maximum (FWHM) values from rocking curve measurements (omega-scans) of the 100 and 102 peaks, a measure of epitaxial quality for these two preferred orientations is obtained. Both omega-scans and theta/2 theta diffractograms show higher quality for the A-type with a FWHM value of 2.00 degrees compared with 4.97 degrees for the B-type. The film composition is found to be ZrB2.3 from time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis. The B-type crystallographic relationship ZrB 2 ( 102 ) parallel to Si ( 100 ) and ZrB 2 [ 1 2 over bar 0 ] parallel to Si [ 110 ] has not been previously reported.

Automated summary

Epitaxial growth of ZrB2 films on Si(100) substrates at 900 degrees C using direct-current magnetron sputter deposition from sintered ZrB2 targets is demonstrated. Two epitaxial relationships are determined from pole figure measurements, with a measure of epitaxial quality obtained from rocking curve measurements of the 100 and 102 peaks. The film composition is found to be ZrB2.3 and a previously unreported crystallographic relationship is identified.