Compositional and structural changes in ZrOxNy films depending on growth condition

The present work focuses on the analysis of ZrOxNy thin films, the composition evolution with changing growth conditions and its relation with the structural and morphological properties of the films. The films were prepared by rf reactive magnetron sputtering, using different reactive gas flows. Composition and structure were measured combining ion beam analysis (IBA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The depth profiles of nitrogen and oxygen have been obtained by elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). Results showed that the oxygen fraction in the films increases with gas flow, reaching a value of x ~ 0.33 for a reactive gas flow mixture of 6.25 sccm. During growth mixed zirconium nitride and oxide phases form. Furthermore, the deposition rate correlates with the oxygen content variations, showing a continuous decrease with reactive gas flow.