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The influence of mixed phases on optical properties of HfO2 thin films prepared by thermal oxidation

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Abstract

Hafnium dioxide (HfO2) thin films were synthesized on silicon and quartz substrates by thermal oxidation of metallic hafnium films in oxygen. The crystalline structure and optical properties of the HfO2 films were systematically investigated using x-ray diffraction, ultraviolet (UV)-Raman, and UV-visible spectrophotometer techniques. All the films thermally oxidized at 450 to 800 °C were mostly monoclinic. Interestingly, cubic phase coexisted with monoclinic phase in the films thermally oxidized at 500 to 600 °C. The corresponding optical band gap (Eg) varied from 5.92 to 6.08 eV for the films with a different phase ratio (cubic to monoclinic one) ranging between 0 and 1:3. These results imply that the mixed phase could have a certain effect on the increase of the Eg of HfO2 films.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by NSAF Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10776010) and partly by State Key Laboratory of Surface Engineering Technology, China (Grant No. 9140C5401010801), and Open Project of Key Laboratory for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, China, (Grant No. LZUMMM2010023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Magnetism and Magnetic Materials of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, 730000, Lanzhou, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Yizhu Xie, Ziwei Ma, Yuroug Su, Yanxia Liu, Lixin Liu, Haiting Zhao, Jinyuan Zhou, Zhenxing Zhang, Jian Li & Erqing Xie

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  1. Yizhu Xie
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  2. Ziwei Ma
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Correspondence to Erqing Xie.

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Xie, Y., Ma, Z., Su, Y. et al. The influence of mixed phases on optical properties of HfO2 thin films prepared by thermal oxidation. Journal of Materials Research 26, 50–54 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2010.61

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