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 tech nique with oxygen ion bombardment and Ar+ ion sputtering of Zr were ch aracterized using XRD, RBS and XPS. The results of XRD show that with increasing oxygen ion beam current densities the amorphous microstruct ure was transformed to a crystalline microstructure; a tetragonal phas e together with monoclinic and cubic phases was found. The RBS analyse s show that the deposited films consist of three layers: (1) the top l ayer contaminated by carbon; (2) the bulk of the films with an approxi mately constant value of the atomic ratio Zr/O; and (3) the transition layer between the bulk of the deposited film and the substrate. Toget her with XPS the RBS analyses that with the increase of oxygen ion bea m current, ZrO(x) with x from 1/3 to 2 was formed.