Abstract
In this study, we investigated the structural properties of TeO2-ZnO (TZ) and TeO2-ZnO-Au (TZA) thin films sputtered under different oxygen concentrations and either annealed or not annealed at 325 °C in air for 10 or 20 h. The lattice changes of the tellurium oxide were shown to be inherent in the polymorph properties of the α and β phases. The β phase was formed for null oxygen flow and the α phase was formed for different oxygen flows (0.5–7.0 sccm) during TZ and TZA sputtering. Au was encountered in its single phase or as AuTe2. The annealing had very little influence on the α and β phases for both TZ and TZA. It is worth noting that SiO2 and orthotellurate anions are both formed for not-null oxygen flow. An electrochemical mechanism was proposed to explain the SiO2 growth at the TZ/Si or TZA/Si interface, taking the orthotellurate anion as oxidizing agent into account.
Highlights
TeO2-zinc tellurite bulk glasses (TeO2)100-x (ZnO) (TZ) glasses exhibit interesting properties that make them attractive candidates for several applications involving nonlinear optics
Some studies indicated that zinc tellurite bulk glasses (TeO2)100-x (ZnO)x (x = 0 to 10 wt%) form homogeneous solids and do not show phase separation [9,10], whereas the crystalline structure presents several polymorphous modifications in a variety of lattices in which the interatomic separation and interatomic bonding are slightly different [11]
The main result was the uniform distribution of gold nanoparticles in the TZ matrix after co-sputtering of TZ and Au in Ar/O2 flow followed by annealing at 325 ◦C in air during 10 h
Summary
TeO2-ZnO (TZ) glasses exhibit interesting properties that make them attractive candidates for several applications involving nonlinear optics. The matrix conditions for the reversible memory behavior have been well established, the influence of the oxygen flow during co-sputtering of TZ and Au onto silicon substrates on the lattice polymorphism as well as on the formation of different crystalline phases still requires further investigation.
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