MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ZIRCONIA FILMS PRODUCED BY THE DUAL-ION BEAM DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE

Zirconia films on Si(100) substrate produced by the dual ion beam technique with oxygen ion bombardment and Ar+ ion sputtering of Zr were characterized using XRD, RBS and XPS. The results of XRD show that with increasing oxygen ion beam current densities the amorphous microstructure was transformed to a crystalline microstructure; a tetragonal phase together with monoclinic and cubic phases was found. The RBS analyses show that the deposited films consist of three layers: (1) the top layer contaminated by carbon; (2) the bulk of the films with an approximately constant value of the atomic ratio Zr/O; and (3) the transition layer between the bulk of the deposited film and the substrate. Together with XPS the RBS analyses that with the increase of oxygen ion beam current, ZrO(x) with x from 1/3 to 2 was formed.