Ion beam processing of oriented CuO films deposited on (100) YSZ by laser ablation

A systematic study of Ar ion implantation in cupric oxide films has been re ported. Oriented CuO films were deposited by pulsed excimer laser ablation technique on (1 0 0) YSZ substrates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed the highly oriented nature of the deposited CuO films. The films were subj ected to ion bombardment for studies of damage formation, Implantations wer e carried out using 100 keV Arf over a dose range between 5 x 10(12) and 5 x 10(15) ions/cm(2). The as-deposited and ion beam processed samples were c haracterized by XRD technique and resistance versus temperature (R-T) measu rements. The activation energies for electrical conduction were found from In [R] versus 1/T curves. Defects play an important role in the conduction mechanism in the implanted samples. The conductivity of the film increases, and the corresponding activation energy decreases with respect to the dose value. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.