STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION EVOLUTION a-Si/ZrO2 AND a-SiOx/ZrO2 MULTILAYERED NANOPERIODICAL STRUCTURES UNDER HIGH TEMPERATURE ANNEAL

Abstract

With the use of scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction the morphology, composition and structure evolution of a-Si/ZrO₂ and a-SiOx/ZrO₂ multilayered nanoperiodical structures subjected to high temperature annealing were investigated. Each ZrO₂ layers thickness was 2 nm while for a-Si or a-SiOx layers thickness was 8 nm with total number of layers 34 (a-SiO_x/ZrO₂) and 43 (a-SiO_x/ZrO₂). Annealing was performed for 30 minutes at temperature of 1100 °С. multilayered nanoperiodical structures have grainy relief with comparable morphology and size characteristics without noticeable dependence on layers interleaving sequence and their composition. 30 minutes anneal at 1100 °С for a-SiOx/ZrO₂ multilayered nanoperiodical structures did not transform their surface. Under the same temperature for a-Si/ZrO₂ multilayered nanoperiodical structures we observed noticeable changes in samples surface morphology as irregularities formation with 100 nm width and height that exceeds bilayer thickness. By X-ray diffraction technique the presence of thin ZrSi2 silicide layer is demonstrated in a-Si/ZrO₂ structures as the result of silicon chemical interaction with zirconium dioxide under high temperature treatment of nanoperiodical multilayers.

 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work was supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia within the framework of the state task for higher education organizations in science for 2017–2019. Project No. 16.8158.2017/8.9. Authors are grateful for I. A. Karabanova for methodical help in samples formation. The investigations results were obtained using resources of the Voronezh state university center for collective use of scientific equipment.