AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Advanced Surface Engineering Thursday Sessions
       Session SE-ThP

Paper SE-ThP10
Influence of the Negative Oxygen Ions on the Structure Evolution of Transition Metal Oxide Thin Films

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Advanced Surface Engineering Poster Session
Presenter: S. Mráz, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Authors: S. Mráz, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
J.M. Schneider, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
The energy distributions of O@super -@ ions of magnetron sputtered Nb, Ta, Zr, and Hf in an Ar/O@sub 2@ atmosphere were measured as a function of the oxygen partial pressure. Three ion populations were detected in the plasma: low, medium and high energy ions. The ion energy distribution functions were compared to distributions obtained based on sputtering theory. If the surface binding energy is assumed to be equal to the heat of formation, good agreement between the experiment and theory was achieved. From correlating the measured ion energy distributions with previously published phase stability data,@footnote 1@ it can be deduced that large fluxes of medium and high energy O@super -@ ions enable formation of crystalline transition metal oxide thin films during low temperature growth. The here presented data may be of general relevance for understanding the structure evolution of thin oxide films. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@ Ngaruiya et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 85(5), 748 (2004).