Improvement of the thermal stability of Sb thin film through erbium doping

Abstract

The transition process of a pure Sb thin film from amorphous to crystalline is ultrafast but thermally unstable. We fabricated Er doped Sb thin films by magnetron sputtering for the first time. By measuring the in situ film resistance vs. temperature, it was found that the crystallization temperature increased from 105 °C to 208 °C with increasing Er content, resulting in a significant improvement in the thermal stability. The phase transition speed was investigated using picosecond laser pulses, showing an ultrafast speed of ∼2 ns. SEM, EDS and XRD analyses also demonstrated the existence of Er and the improvement in the thermal stability by increasing Er-doping. The enhanced thermal stability through Er doping onto Sb thin films was attributed to the formation of Sb–Er bonds in doped films measured by XPS. The main outcomes of this work enable a prediction that the Er doped Sb thin films are well suited for data storage applications.