Characterization of zirconium dioxide thin films prepared by cw CO2 laser-assisted evaporation

Zirconium dioxide thin films have been deposited by cw CO2 laser-assisted evaporation on Si(100), quartz and optically polished glass substrates at different substrate temperature. Films were grown in oxygen, under partial pressure. The surface morphology of the films has been observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the structure has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical bandgap has been calculated from transmission spectra, taken in the UV range. The dc dark conductivity has been investigated in the temperature range 30-130DGC. The SEM micrographs show that, the film surfaces are smooth and polycrystalline and grows in a well-aligned columnar structure. XRD observations revealed that, the structure of the films deposited at 250DGC substrate temperature is tetragonal having lattice constants a = 0.5074 nm and c = 0.572 nm. The bandgap evaluated from optical spectra is #~ 5.25 eV. The dc conductivity shows linear variation with temperature with the experimental temperature range, suggesting an activated process, having single activation energy.