High-Quality ZrO₂ Thin Films Deposited on Silicon byHigh Vacuum Electron Beam Evaporation

Zirconium oxide films were deposited on p-type Si (100) substrates using high vacuum electron beam evaporation (HVEBE) at room temperature. X-ray photoelectric spectroscopy shows that the dominating chemical state of zirconia thin films is in the fully oxidized state of Zr⁴⁺, no matter whether annealed in oxygen. The structure information from x-ray diffraction shows that zirconia thin films deposited at room temperature by HVEBE were completely amorphous before and after the annealing. The spreading resistance profile indicates that ZrO₂ thin films have excellent insulation property (with resistance of more than 10⁸Ω) and the thickness is 800Å. After thermal treatment at 600°C in O₂ ambient, the root-mean-square roughness changed from 8.09Å of the as-deposited film to 13.8Å across an area of 1 x 1μm².