Petr Klapetek, Ivan Ohlídal, Daniel Franta, Pavel Pokorný

Analysis of the boundaries of ZrO₂ and HfO₂ thin films by atomic force microscopy and the combined optical method

Surface and Interface Analysis 33 (2002) 559–564

In this paper an atomic force microscopy analysis of the microrough upper boundaries of ZrO₂ and HfO₂ thin films is presented. Within this analysis the values of the width, root-mean-square value of heights and power spectral density function of these boundaries are determined for ZrO₂ and HfO₂ exhibiting different thicknesses. The thickness dependences of the quantities mentioned are introduced. The values of the thicknesses of the films are evaluated using the combined optical method. This optical method is also used to describe boundary microroughness within the effective medium theory. A discussion of the results concerning the microroughness of the upper boundaries of both the ZrO₂ and HfO₂ thin films is also introduced.

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You can also contact one of the authors: ohlidal@physics.muni.cz, franta@physics.muni.cz

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