Journal
MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING B-SOLID STATE MATERIALS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
Volume 118, Issue 1-3, Pages 127-131Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA
DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2004.12.068
Keywords
thin films; HfO2; spectroscopic ellipsometry; XRD; XRR; AFM
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In this paper, we report on the solid phase crystallisation of carbon-free HfO2 thin films deposited by plasma ion assisted deposition (PIAD). After deposition, the HfO2 films were annealed in N-2 ambient for 3 h at 350, 550 and 750 degrees C. Several characterisation techniques including X-ray reflectometry (XRR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used for the physical characterisation of as-deposited and annealed HfO2, XRD has revealed that the as-deposited HfO2 film is in an amorphous-like state with only traces of crystalline phase and that the annealed films are in a highly crystalline state. These results are in good agreement with the SE results showing an increase of refractive index by increasing the annealing temperature. XRR results show a significant density gradient over the as-deposited film thickness, which is characteristic of the PIAD method. The AFM measurements show that the HfO2 layers have a smooth surface even after annealing at 750 degrees C. The present study demonstrates that the solid phase crystallisation of HfO2, MAD thin films starts at a temperature as low as 550 degrees C. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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