Abstract
This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of several thulium oxide and nitride thin films grown by reactive magnetron direct-current sputtering. Hysteresis curves of the Tm emission spectra of the sputtering plasma versus the flow of N2 or O2 around the Tm-metal target were monitored. Emission spectra of atomic transition lines in the region between 370 and 420 nm were identified to be of neutral thulium. The plasma emission was compared to the hysteresis curves generated by monitoring the sputter rate and target voltage. The nitride films' composition and optical properties were determined by X-Ray Diffraction, and optical transmission spectroscopy. The composition of the oxide films was determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The films are initially amorphous but crystallize after thermal treatment at 800°C. The optical bandgap values obtained using the Tauc method are consistent with what has been previously reported for both Tm2O3 and TmN prepared by other methods.
Highlights
Thulium sesquioxides (Tm2O3) have received some attention in recent years
While rare earth mononitrides have been reported for over 5 decades [7,8], only a few compounds have been reported by routes involving high vacuum growth techniques - by employing epitaxial [9,10,11] growth, pulsed laser deposition [12], or direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering [6]
Despite all noise obtained in the metallic region of the hysteresis curve, the depo sition rate curve was above 3 Å/s
Summary
Thulium sesquioxides (Tm2O3) have received some attention in recent years. Possible applications include Tm2O3 metal-oxidesemiconductor capacitors [1] and biosensors [2]. There is little data on optical properties of Tm2O3 thin films grown by magnetron sputtering. The target condition depends on the operation history, so hysteresis effects between process parameters like plasma optical emission intensity, the target voltage, the sputter erosion rate and controllable sputter parameters such as the flow of reactive gases appear. We show that the relationship between the reactive gas flow rate and the atomic Tm emission from the plasma is complex and nonlinear but is capable of giving information on the metallic thulium target poisoning during sputtering. In view of the limited available data this contribution offers synthesis and characterization data of Tm2O3, TmN, and TmOxNy thin films grown by DC magnetron sputtering. The properties were compared to the state of target poisoning by nitrogen or oxygen
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