Investigations on Compositional, Structural and Optical Properties of Thermally Oxidized HfO2 Films

Thermal oxidation at various temperatures on magnetron sputtered hafnium films shown significant effect on stoichiometry, crystallographic structure and electrical and optical properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms the stoichiometry of HfO2 films by showing the relevant shift in the core level binding energies of hafnium and oxygen after increasing the oxidation temperature to 600 degrees C. The EDAX analysis also confirmed the required composition of HfO2 films. The presence of monoclinic HfO2 structure was identified by XRD for the films oxidized at 600 degrees C. The interface quality at HfO2/Si stacks was improved as a function of oxidation temperature. The optical band gap and the refractive index of the HfO2 films increased with increase of oxidation temperature.

Automated summary

Thermal oxidation at different temperatures significantly affects the stoichiometry, crystallographic structure, and electrical and optical properties of magnetron-sputtered hafnium films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and EDAX analysis confirm the chemical composition of the films. Increasing oxidation temperature improves the optical properties of HfO2 films.