Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 43, 363-368 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap:2008129

Investigation of structural and optical properties of sputtered Zirconia thin films

¹ Fondazione Bruno Kessler-Centro per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica, Via Sommarive 18, 38050 Povo (Trento), Italy
² PROMES-CNRS, Tecnosud-Rambla de la Thermodynamique, 66100 Perpignan Cedex, France
³ CNR-IFN, Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie, via Sommarive 14, 38050 Trento, Italy
⁴ LMI-CNRS, Université Clermont-Ferrand II, 24 avenue des Landais, 63177 Aubière Cedex, France

Corresponding author: farida.rebib@univ-perp.fr

Received: 16 November 2007
Revised: 26 May 2008
Accepted: 3 June 2008
Published online: 17 July 2008

Abstract

Zirconium oxide thin films were deposited by sputtering a ZrO₂ target under an argon-oxygen gas mixture and different total gas pressures. Their composition, structure and optical constants were characterised by mean of Auger profiles, XRD, XPS, m-line and UV-visible spectroscopies. All the deposits were found to be sub-stoechiometric with O/Zr ratio decreasing from 1.6 to 1.45 when the deposition pressure increased from 0.01 to 0.05 Torr. A SRIM simulation was used to explain this behaviour. The XRD showed a monoclinic phase for all sample with different grain size and residual stress. Finally, the optical constants were determined. The refractive index decreased slightly when the deposition pressure increased whereas the optical gap and the Urbach energy were found to be quite constant whatever the sputtering pressure.