Preparation and microstructural characterization of Si(100) Ce1-x Gd x O2-δ thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique

Microstructural properties of Ce1-x Gd (x) O2-delta (x = 0 to 0.3) thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique were studied. The thin films were deposited on Si(100) substrate at a substrate temperature of 973 K at the oxygen partial pressure of 0.2 Pa using KrF excimer laser with energy of 220 mJ. The prepared thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the polycrystalline nature of the thin films. Crystallite size, strain and dislocation density were calculated. The Raman studies revealed the formation of Ce-O with the systematic variation of peak intensity and full width half maxima depending on concentration of gadolinium dopant. The thickness of the films was estimated using Talystep profiler. The surface roughness was estiamted based on AFM.