Composition and thickness determination of thin oxide films: comparison of different programs and methods

Abstract

The mass thickness of thin titanium oxide and hafnium oxide films grown by the atomic layer deposition method on silicon substrates was determined using EPMA data and STRATA and FLA programs. The results of the two programs coincided well if a set of relative intensities was measured at different energies of probe electrons. Comparative measurements by XRF gave higher values. Comparing the mass thicknesses of films measured by EPMA and absolute thicknesses determined by optical spectrophotometry, ellipsometry and profilometry, the densities of polycrystalline films were estimated. Values of 3.3±0.2 and 8.7±0.2 g cm ^–3 were obtained for TiO ₂ anatase grown at 300 °C and monoclinic HfO ₂ grown at 600 °C, respectively. Titanium oxide films deposited at 100 °C contained significant amounts of chlorine and hydroxyl groups (7.2±0.7 and 6.9±0.9 mass-%, respectively).