Nano-structural, Electrical and Mechanical Characterization of Zirconium Oxide Thin Films as a Function of Annealing Temperature and Time

Zr thin films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering technique on Si substrate and then post-annealed at different temperatures (150-750 °C in steps of 150 °C) and times (60 and 180 min) with flow of oxygen. X-ray diffraction (XRD) method was used for study of crystallographic structure. These results showed an orthorhombic structure for annealed films at 150 and a mixed structure of monoclinic and tetragonal for annealed films at higher temperatures (300-750 ºC). XRD result also showed that an increase in annealing temperature and time caused increasing of crystalline size. EDAX and AFM tech-niques were employed for investigation of chemical composition and surface morphology of samples, re-spectively. The results showed a granular structure for all samples, while the O / Zr ratio, grains size and surface roughness were increased with increasing of annealing temperature and time. A two probe instru-ment was used for electrical properties investigation, while hardness of films was measured by nano-indentation test. These results showed that increasing of annealing temperature and time caused increas-ing of electrical resistance and decreasing of hardness in the films. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3513