Crystallography characteristics of tetragonal nano-zirconia films under various oxygen partial pressure

ABSTRACT

Structural features and surface morphology of ZrO${}_2$ thin films electron beam evaporation-deposited under various oxygen partial pressure were studied. It was indicated tetragonal phase for all samples by XRD pattern. The highest crystallite size calculated via Scherrer equation is observed at the oxygen partial pressure of $7\times {10}^{-3}$ mbar; that was in good agreement with the high-resolution surface images obtained by FE-SEM. The photoluminescence spectrum of t-zirconia films exhibits an intense peak at 351 nm, this emission decrease in intensity by elevation of oxygen partial pressures. Surface roughness profile and scaling analyses were made by surface measurements of atomic force microscopy with using the height-height correlation function. The roughness has the maximum value at the highest oxygen partial pressure. It has been found that with the increase of oxygen partial pressures, lateral correlation length of samples increased, and fractal dimension changed within the range of 2.20–2.26.

KEYWORDS:

• Zirconia thin films
• oxygen partial pressure
• crystallite size
• atomic force microscopy
• surface roughness
• correlation function

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Office of Graduate Studies of the University of Bu Ali Sina. The authors are grateful to the Office for their support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Leila Eftekhari http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1476-1332 Davood Raoufi http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2170-0906