Daniel Franta, Ivan Ohlídal, Petr Klapetek, Pavel Pokorný

Characterization of the boundaries of thin films of TiO₂ by atomic force microscopy and optical methods

Surface and Interface Analysis 34 (2002) 759–762

In this paper slight roughness of the upper boundaries of TiO₂ thin films prepared on substrates formed by single-crystal silicon is studied. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and an optical method based on combining variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and near-normal spectroscopic reflectometry are used for this purpose. It is shown that the values of the basic statistical quantities characterizing this roughness depend quite strongly on the values of the thicknesses of these films (they increase with increasing thickness). Differences observed between the values of the basic statistical parameters determined by AFM and the optical method are explained. It is also shown that the TiO₂ films exhibit an inhomogeneity represented by a profile of the complex refractive index.

Download PDF (124 kB)

This article may also be available to you online

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

Citing Articles

1. Klapetek P., Ohlídal I., Franta D., Montaigne-Ramil A., Bonanni A., Stifter D., Sitter H.,
   Atomic force microscopy characterization of ZnTe epitaxial films,
   Acta Physica Slovaca 53 (2003) 223–230
2. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Klapetek P., Ohlídal M.,
   Characterization of thin oxide films on GaAs substrates by optical methods and atomic force microscopy,
   Surface and Interface Analysis 36 (2004) 1203–1206
3. Roberson L. B., Poggi M. A., Kowalik J., Smestad G. P., Bottomley L. A., Tolbert L. M.,
   Correlation of morphology and device performance in inorganic-organic TiO₂-polythiophene hybrid solid-state solar cells,
   Coordination Chemistry Reviews 248 (2004) 1491–1499
4. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Klapetek P., Montaigne-Ramil A., Bonanni A., Stifter D., Sitter H.,
   Optical properties of ZnTe films prepared by molecular beam epitaxy,
   Thin Solid Films 468 (2004) 193–202
5. Ohlídal I., Franta D., Klapetek P.,
   Combination of optical methods and atomic force microscopy at characterization of thin film systems,
   Acta Physica Slovaca 55 (2005) 271–294
6. Franta D., Ohlídal I.,
   Comparison of effective medium approximation and Rayleigh–Rice theory concerning ellipsometric characterization of rough surfaces,
   Optics Communications 248 (2005) 459–467
7. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Mistrík J., Yamaguchi T., Hu G. J., Dai N.,
   Optical characterization of sol-gel deposited PZT thin films by spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectometry in near-UV and visible regions,
   Applied Surface Science 244 (2005) 338–342
8. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Petrýdes D.,
   Optical characterization of TiO₂ thin films by the combined method of spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectroscopic photometry,
   Vacuum 80 (2005) 159–162
9. Volintiru I., Creatore M., van de Sanden M. C. M.,
   In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry growth studies on the Al-doped ZnO films deposited by remote plasma-enhanced metalorganic chemical vapor deposition,
   Journal of Applied Physics 103 (2008) 033704
10. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Nečas D.,
    Optical quantities of rough films calculated by Rayleigh-Rice theory,
    Physica Status Solidi C 5 (2008) 1395–1398
11. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Nečas D., Vižďa F., Caha O., Hasoň M., Pokorný P.,
    Optical characterization of HfO₂ thin films,
    Thin Solid Films 519 (2011) 6085-6091

Cited Articles

1. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Klapetek P., Pokorný P., Ohlídal M.,
   Analysis of inhomogeneous thin films of ZrO₂ by the combined optical method and atomic force microscopy,
   Surface and Interface Analysis 32 (2001) 91–94
2. Franta D., Ohlídal I.,
   Analysis of thin films by optical multi-sample methods,
   Acta Physica Slovaca 50 (2000) 411–421
3. Ohlídal I., Franta D.,
   Ellipsometry of thin film systems,
   Progress in Optics 41 (2000) 181-282
4. Franta D., Ohlídal I.,
   Optical characterization of inhomogeneous thin films of ZrO₂ by spectroscopic ellipsometry and spectroscopic reflectometry,
   Surface and Interface Analysis 30 (2000) 574–579
5. Franta D., Ohlídal I., Klapetek P.,
   Analysis of slightly rough thin films by optical methods and AFM,
   Mikrochimica Acta 132 (2000) 443–447
6. Franta D., Ohlídal I.,
   Ellipsometric parameters and reflectances of thin films with slightly rough boundaries,
   Journal of Modern Optics 45 (1998) 903–934