Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of oxygen flow on the optical properties of hafnium oxide thin films by dual-ion beam sputtering deposition

  • Published:
Applied Physics A Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hafnium oxide (HfO2) is an important high-refractive-index material used in the optical thin films. Dual beam ion sputtering is one of the most important methods for preparing HfO2 films. This study systematically investigated the optical, structural, and compositional properties of HfO2 films by dual ion beam sputtering deposition. The influence and mechanism of the oxygen flow of the assist ion source and vacuum chamber to prepare hafnium oxide film with higher refractive index, lower extinction coefficient, and lower surface roughness were researched. Based on microstructure measurements obtained by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, it was found that the film with 15 sccm oxygen flow rate in assisted ion source and zero in vacuum chamber had the smallest root mean square roughness and highest degree of crystallization. Results of optical studies showed that the film exhibited the highest refractive index and lowest extinction coefficient, whereas the oxygen flow rate of the assist ion source and vacuum chamber were 15 sccm and zero, respectively. The film was polycrystalline and comprised monoclinic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic phases. We believe this study was important for choosing proper oxygen flow parameters for the fabrication of hafnium oxide film with different applications.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data that support the fndings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

  1. S. Tibuleac, R. Magnusson, Diffractive narrow-band transmission filters based on guided-mode resonance effects in thin-film multilayers. IEEE Photonics Technol. Lett. 9(4), 464–466 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. T. Begou, F. Lemarchand, F. Lemarquis, A. Moreau, J. Lumeau, High-performance thin-film optical filters with stress compensation. J Opt Soc Am A. 36(11), C1139 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. H. Gruger, Ch. Kunath, E. Kurth, S. Sorge, W. Pufe, T. Pechstein, High quality r.f. sputtered metal oxides (Ta2O5, HfO2) and their properties after annealing. Thin Solid Films 447, 509–515 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. S. Jena, R.B. Tokas, J.S. Misal, K.D. Rao, D.V. Udupa, S. Thakur, Effect of O2/Ar gas flow ratio on the optical properties and mechanical stress of sputtered HfO2 thin films. Thin Solid Films 592, 135–142 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. M.N. Jones, Y.W. Kwon, D.P. Norton, Dielectric constant and current transport for HfO2 thin films on ITO. Appl Phys A Mat Sci Process. 81, 285–288 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. M.F. Al-Kuhaili, Optical properties of hafnium oxide thin films and their application in energy-efficient windows. Opt Mater. 27(3), 383–387 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. N. Selvakumar, H.C. Barshilia, K.S. Rajam, A. Biswas, Structure, optical properties and thermal stability of pulsed sputter deposited high temperature HfOx/Mo/HfO2 solar selective absorbers. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells. 94(8), 1412–1420 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. C. Quinteros, R. Zazpe, F.G. Marlasca, F. Golmar, F. Casanova, P. Stoliar, HfO2 based memory devices with rectifying capabilities. J Appl Phys. 115, 024501 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. H. Takeuchi, D. Ha, T.J. King, Observation of bulk HfO2 defects by spectroscopic ellipsometry. J Vac Sci Technol A. 22(4), 1337–1341 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. M. Alvisi, F. De Tomasi, M.R. Perrone, M.L. Protopapa, A. Rizzo, F. Sarto, S. Scaglione, Laser damage dependence on structural and optical properties of ion-assisted HfO2 thin films. Thin Solid Films 396(1–2), 44–52 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. W.T. Tang, Z.F. Ying, Z.G. Hu, W.W. Li, J. Sun, N. Xu, J.D. Wu, Synthesis and characterization of HfO2 and ZrO2 thin films deposited by plasma assisted reactive pulsed laser deposition at low temperature. Thin Solid Films 518(19), 5442–5446 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. T.J. Chang, Y.S. Jiang, S.H. Yi, C.Y. Chou, C.I. Wang, H.C. Lin, M.J. Chen, Atomic tailoring of low-thermal-budget and nearly wake-up-free ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 nanoscale thin films by atomic layer annealing. Appl Surf Sci. 591, 153110 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. R. Thielsch, A. Gatto, J. Heber, S. Martin, N. Kaiser, Comparative study of the UV-optical and structural properties of SiO2, Al2O3, and HfO2 single layers deposited by reactive evaporation, ion-assisted deposition, and plasma-ion-assisted deposition. Intern Symp Opt Sci Technol. 410(2), 86–93 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  14. W.Y. Deng, C.S. Jin, C. Li, S. Yao, B. Yu, Y. Liu, Plasma-ion-assisted deposition of HfO2 films with low UV absorption. Surf. Coat. Technol. 395, 125691 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. D.P. Zhang, P. Fan, C.J. Wang, X.M. Cai, G.X. Liang, J.D. Shao, Z.X. Fan, Properties of HfO2 thin films prepared by dual-ion-beam reactive sputtering. Opt Laser Technol. 41(6), 820–822 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. S.F. Pellicori, C.L. Martinez, UV optical properties of thin film oxide layers deposited by different processes. Appl Opt. 50(28), 5559–5566 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Z.B. He, W.D. Wu, H. Xu, J.C. Zhang, Y.J. Tang, The effects of O2/Ar ratio on the structure and properties of hafnium dioxide (HfO2) films. Vacuum 81(3), 211–214 (2006)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. C.V. Ramana, M. Vargas, G.A. Lopez, M. Noor-A-Alam, M.J. Hernandez, E.J. Rubio, Effect of oxygen/argon gas ratio on the structure and optical properties of sputter-deposited nanocrystalline HfO2 thin films. Ceram Int. 41(5), 6187–6193 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Z.Y. Wang, S.J. Yuan, D.H. Li, F. Jin, R.J. Zhang, Y.Q. Zhan, M. Lu, S.Y. Wang, Y.X. Zheng, J.P. Guo, Z.Y. Fan, L.Y. Chen, Influence of hydration water on CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite films prepared through one-step procedure. Opt Express 24(22), A1431-1443 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. R.J. Zhang, Y.M. Chen, W.J. Lu, Q.Y. Cai, Y.X. Zheng, L.Y. Chen, Influence of nanocrystal size on dielectric functions of si nanocrystals embedded in sio2 matrix. Appl Phys Lett. 95(16), 1046 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. X.J. Fan, H.X. Liu, B. Zhong, C.X. Fei, X. Wang, Q.Q. Wang, Optical characteristics of H2O-based and O3-based HfO2 films deposited by ALD using spectroscopy ellipsometry. Appl Phys. 119, 957–963 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. D.X. Zhang, Y.X. Zheng, Q.Y. Cai, W. Lin, K.N. Wu, P.H. Mao, R.J. Zhang, H.B. Zhao, L.Y. Chen, Thickness-dependence of optical constants for Ta2O5 ultrathin films. Appl Phys A: Mater Sci Process. 108(4), 975–979 (2012)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. H. He, D. Huang, Q.M. Gan, J.N. Hao, S.L. Liu, Z.B. Wu, W.K. Pang, B. Johannessen, Y. Tang, J.L. Luo, H.Y. Wang, Z.P. Guo, Anion vacancies regulating endows MoSSe with fast and stable potassium ion storage. ACS Nano 13(10), 11843–11852 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Y.J. Zheng, Y.F. Chen, Y.L. Huang, P.K. Gogoi, M.Y. Li, L.J. Li, P.E. Trevisanutto, Q.X. Wang, S.J. Pennycook, T.S. Wee, S.Y. Quek, Point defects and localized excitons in 2D WSe2. ACS Nano 13(5), 6050–6059 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. T. Li, M. Ye, Z.Z. Sun, N. Zhang, W. Zhang, S. Inguva, C.X. Xie, L. Chen, W. Yu, S. Ke, H. Huang, Origin of ferroelectricity in epitaxial si-doped HfO2 films ACS. Appl Mater Interfaces. 11(4), 4139–4144 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. J. Gope, N. Vandana, J. Batra, R. Panigrahi, K.K. Singh, R. Maurya, P.K.S. Srivastava, Silicon surface passivation using thin HfO2 films by atomic layer deposition. Appl Surf Sci. 357, 635–652 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. H.S. Liu, L.S. Wang, S.D. Li, Y.G. Jiang, D.D. Liu, X. Yang, Y.Q. Ji, F. Zhang, D.Y. Chen, Physical mechanism of refractive index inhomogeneity of hafnium oxide thin film prepared by ion beam sputtering technique. Opt. Mater. 75, 135–141 (2018)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. A. Wiatrowski, A. Obstarczyk, M. Mazur, D. Kaczmarek, D. Wojcieszak, Characterization of HfO2 optical coatings deposited by mf magnetron sputtering. Coatings 9(106), 1–19 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  29. J.C. Manifacier, J. Gasiot, J.P. Fillard, A simple method for the determination of the optical constants n, h and the thickness of a weakly absorbing thin film. Appl Phy E Sci Instru. 9, 1002–1004 (1976)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. R. Swanepoel, Determination of the thickness and optical constants of amorphous silicon. Appl Phy E Sci Instru. 16, 1214–1222 (1983)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. R. Messier, Revised structure zone model for thin film physical structure. J Vac Sci Technol A. 2(2), 500–503 (1984)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. D. Manova, J.W. Gerlach, Thin film deposition using energetic ions. Mater. 3(8), 4109 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. A.J. Thornton, The microstructure of sputter-deposited coatings. J Vac Sci Technol A. 4(6), 3059–3065 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. T. Mori, M. Fujiwara, R.R. Manory, I. Shimizu, T. Tanaka, S. Miyake, HfO2 thin films prepared by ion beam assisted deposition. Surf Coat Technol. 169, 528–531 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. C. Palade, A. Lepadatu, A. Slav, O. Cojocaru, A. Iuga, V.A. Maraloiu, A. Moldovan, M. Dinescu, V.S. Teodorescu, T. Stoica, M.L. Ciurea, A nanoscale continuous transition from the monoclinic to ferroelectric orthorhombic phase inside HfO2 nanocrystals stabilized by HfO2 capping and self-controlled Ge doping. J Mater Chem C Mater. 9(36), 12353–12366 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. H.S. Liu, Y.G. Jiang, L.S. Wang, J. Leng, P. Sun, K.W. Zhuang, Y.Q. Ji, X.B. Cheng, H.F. Jiao, Z.S. Wang, B.J. Wu, Correlation between properties of HfO2 films and preparing parameters by ion beam sputtering deposition. Appl. Opt. 53(4), A405–A411 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. W.T. Liu, Z.T. Liu, F. Yan, T.T. Tan, H. Tian, Influence of O2/Ar flow ratio on the structure and optical properties of sputtered hafnium dioxide thin films. Surf Coat Technol. 205(7), 2120–2125 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFB2012601) and the Fudan University–CIOMP Joint Fund (Nos. FC2019-004 and FC2019-006).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Optical Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Shaobo Fang, Chong Ma, Weiming Liu, Junbo He, Cheng Wang & Rongjun Zhang

  2. Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200083, China

    Chong Ma, Gang Chen & Dingquan Liu

  3. Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Yiwu, 322000, China

    Rongjun Zhang

Authors
  1. Shaobo Fang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chong Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Weiming Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Junbo He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Cheng Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gang Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Dingquan Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Rongjun Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rongjun Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fang, S., Ma, C., Liu, W. et al. Effect of oxygen flow on the optical properties of hafnium oxide thin films by dual-ion beam sputtering deposition. Appl. Phys. A 128, 1097 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06224-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06224-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation