Determination of P/Al ratio in phosphorus-doped aluminium oxide thin films by XRF, RBS and FTIR

Abstract

Phosphorus-doped aluminium oxide thin films were deposited in a flow-type ALE reactor from AlCl3, H2O and from either P2O5 or trimethyl-phosphate. Structural information of the films was obtained from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) was used to quantitatively determine the composition of the films. The P/Al intensity ratios calculated from X-ray fluorescence (XRF) results were in a linear relation with the P/Al concentration ratios calculated from RBS results. For comparison, the intensity ratios of the phosphorus peak (P=O) at about 1250 cm−1 and the aluminium peak (Al-O) at about 950 cm−1 were determined from the IR absorption spectra. The calibration of FTIR peak intensities was done by plotting the intensity ratios of phosphorus and aluminium peaks against the P/Al concentration ratios measured by RBS. FTIR gave also a linear calibration curve with RBS but the method is less suitable for routine analysis of P/Al ratio than XRF.