The mechanism of phase transition induced by oxygen doping in zirconium nitride thin films
Source abstract
Abstract
MOxNy (M represents transition metal) thin films have shown excellent performance in various fields such as temperature sensing, high-k gate dielectrics and decorative coatings. Thin film properties can be significantly affected by adjusting oxygen contents, while the physical mechanism of oxygen in MNx structure is not well explored. In this paper, the effects of oxygen doping in ZrN thin films (expressed as ZrOxNy) on material modification and temperature sensing are discussed from a viewpoint of Zr vacancies (VZr). A phenomenon of phase transition from ZrN into Zr3N4 structure is observed with increasing flow rates of N2/O2 in thin film deposition. In addition, an electronic transition from metallic to semiconductor behavior is found even a slight oxygen is doped in ZrN structure. Based on the experimental results and first principal calculations, a physical model is proposed that VZr can be induced in ZrN structure by oxygen doping. A small quantity of VZr change the electronic behavior of the film from metallic to semiconductor type and a large quantity trigger phase transition from ZrN to Zr3N4 structure. The results and model provide clear insights into engineering of ZrOxNy thin films for high performance temperature sensors.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Metal and Thin Film Mechanics · Semiconductor materials and devices · ZnO doping and properties
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (35)
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