Dynamics of zirconium oxide thin-film growth and ion-beam etching

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Abstract
Some aspects of the dynamics of growth and ion-beam etching of dielectric zirconium oxide films have been deduced from in situ measurements by ellipsometry, photometry, and ion scattering spectroscopy for the cases of vapor-deposited films produced with or without ion assistance. These measurements confirm that the porous microstructure exhibited by an evaporated film can be modified significantly by ion bombardment during growth, since ion and surface-atom recoil implantation lead to film densification. The ellipsometric data for ion-beam etching have been compared with a dynamical collision cascade model which has been used recently to describe ion-assisted thin-film densification. The model predicts the time evolution of the atomic densities and stoichiometry near the surface and considers the diffusion of atoms from overdensified and nonstoichiometric regions in terms of random-walk theory. The measured growth of the surface damage layer, which is formed during etching of a porous film, as well as the surface recession rate, can be explained quantitatively by the model.