Zr, ZrN and Zr/Al Thin Films Deposition Using Arc Evaporation and Annealing

The chemical reactions are widely used for the layers of different composition formation. However, synthesis mechanism is a complicated process in thin films/layers system, and is not completely studied. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the kinetics of chemical compounds in reaction, to produce ZrO₂ thin films using arc evaporation and annealing (post-deposition), and to analyze them. The pure zirconium (Zr) and zirconium nitride (ZrN) were deposited using arc evaporation. 10% mol of aluminum was evaporated on a few Zr films. All deposited films were annealed in the air atmosphere gradually changing the temperature from 400°C to 1100°C in order to produce ZrO₂ films. The formation processes of the new phase were studied. Activation energy of the reactions was calculated. Structural properties were measured using X-ray diffraction, optical properties - using ellipsometry. Tetragonal phase of ZrO₂ was obtained in the annealing process of ZrO₂/Al thin film in the air atmosphere of 800°C.