Improvement of the electrical properties of heteroepitaxial yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) films on Si prepared by reactive sputtering

A heteroepitaxial yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) him was prepared on an S i substrate by de magnetron sputtering with Ar + O-2 gas, where the metalli c Zr + Y film was deposited on the weakly oxidized Si substrate prior to th e YSZ film deposition. It was found from the XPS measurement that most of t he weakly oxidized Si layer was reduced by depositing the Zr + Y film at a substrate temperature of 800 degreesC and that zirconia and yttria were for med. An unfavorable kink of the C-V characteristics of the 10-nm-thick YSZ/ Si substrate structure was almost extinguished by annealing at 900 degreesC for 10 min in the N-2 atmosphere. Also, the hysteresis loop width of the C -V curve was reduced by this annealing process. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.