Regensburg 2016 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 97: Nanostructured Surfaces and Thin Films

O 97.2: Vortrag

Freitag, 11. März 2016, 10:45–11:00, S053

Investigation of monolayer-thick ZrO₂ films created by sputter deposition — •Peter Lackner, Joong-Il J. Choi, Ulrike Diebold, and Michael Schmid — Institute of Applied Physics, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

Investigating zirconia (ZrO₂) is challenging due to its high band gap. As an insulator it is not accessible to measurement methods relying on electronic conduction, such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), at room temperature. To circumvent this issue, ultrathin ZrO₂ films can be studied [1]. However, the very low vapor pressure of zirconium makes deposition slow when using evaporation in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). We therefore present an UHV-compatible sputter source similar to [2], which can be used to deposit ZrO₂ thin films of any desired thickness.

By variation of film thickness and annealing temperature a continuous and well-ordered film can be produced. We present STM, LEED and XPS results on ZrO₂ films with a thickness of one to 7.5 monolayers. On Rh(111), different surface reconstructions are observed for every layer up to five monolayers. Films with a thickness of five or more monolayers show stripes on the surface, which are indicative of bulk-terminated monoclinic or tetragonal ZrO₂.

[1] Meinel et al., Phys. Rev. B 74, 235444 (2006).

[2] Mayr et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84, 094103 (2013).