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Evolution of Microcracks in Epitaxial CeO2 Thin Films on YSZ-Buffered Si

  • Original Article – Nanomaterials
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Abstract

Epitaxial buffer layers such as ceria (CeO2)/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) allow the direct integration of functional oxide single crystal thin films on silicon (Si). Microcracks in the buffer layer, often evolving from the large thermal tensile stress, are detrimental to the integration of high-quality complex oxide thin films on Si. In this study, we investigated the evolution of microcracks in sputter-grown epitaxial CeO2 layers by systematically varying the sputtering power and thickness of CeO2 thin films on YSZ single crystal (low thermal mismatch) and YSZ-buffered Si (high thermal mismatch) substrates. Using a plane stress model, we revealed that as the sputtering power increased, the epitaxial CeO2 thin films tended to be more compressively strained at the growth temperature. This could accommodate the tensile strain arising during cooling to room temperature, thereby suppressing the evolution of microcracks. Our result provides not only a method to suppress microcracks in the oxide heterostructure on Si, but also a tool to control their strain state, by controlling their growth parameters.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (NRF-2020M3F3A2A01081572 and NRF-2020M3D1A2101933).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronic Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Soo Young Jung, Hyung-Jin Choi, Jun Young Lee, Min-Seok Kim, Ruiguang Ning, Dong-Hun Han, Seong Keun Kim, Ji-Soo Jang & Seung-Hyub Baek

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Institute of Advanced Materials, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Soo Young Jung, Min-Seok Kim, Dong-Hun Han & Ho Won Jang

  3. KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University (KU), Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea

    Seong Keun Kim

  4. Advanced Analysis and Data Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Sung Ok Won

  5. Neutron Science Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, 34057, Republic of Korea

    June Hyuk Lee

  6. Nanoscience and Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Seung-Hyub Baek

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  1. Soo Young Jung
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Jung, S.Y., Choi, HJ., Lee, J.Y. et al. Evolution of Microcracks in Epitaxial CeO2 Thin Films on YSZ-Buffered Si. Electron. Mater. Lett. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-023-00449-w

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