Heteroepitaxial growth of YSZ films on Si(100) substrate by using new metallic mode of reactive sputtering

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin film is deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering from a composite Zr-Y target in an Ar-O-2 gas mixture. Various hysteresis curves, such as the deposition rate and Zr+, Y+, ZrO+, YO+ ions, are observed as a function of the oxygen flow rate (O-2/Ar). In the metallic mode, metallic films are deposited and in the oxide mode YSZ films are deposited In order to control the reaction in reactive sputtering we protected the metallic target from, oxidation by using a target cover with a 20 mm-diameter aperture. It was successful in depositing YSZ films in the metallic mode which has ten times higher deposition rate than the oxide mode. In this mode it was successful to growth the YSZ film heteroepitaxially on p-(100)Si. The substrate temperature was 800 degrees C, and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curve was 1.08 degrees The initial stage of epitaxial formation was observed by using the X-ray diffraction pattern, the reflected high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) pattern, and the cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (XTEM) photograph. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.