Erratum: “Compositional and phase dependence of elastic modulus of crystalline and amorphous Hf1-xZrxO2 thin films” [Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 102901 (2021)]

The adhesion and mechanical stability of thin film coatings on substrates is increasingly becoming a key issue in device reliability as magnetic and storage technology driven products demand smaller, thinner and more complex functional coatings. In the present study, chemical vapor deposited Co and Co3O4thin films on SiO2and Si substrates are produced, respectively. Chemical vapor deposition is the most widely used deposition technique which produces thin films well adherent to the substrate. Co and Co3O4thin films can be used in innovative applications such as magnetic sensors, data storage devices and protective layers. The produced thin films are characterized using nanoindentation technique and their nanomechanical properties (hardness and elastic modulus) are obtained. Finally, an evaluation of the reliability of each thin film (wear analysis) is performed using the hardness to elastic modulus ratio in correlation to the ratio of irreversible work to total work for a complete loading-unloading procedure.

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Structural and Mechanical Properties of Nanostructured C-Ag Thin Films Synthesized by Thermionic Vacuum Arc Method

Journal of Nanomaterials ◽

10.1155/2018/9632041 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rodica Vladoiu ◽

Aurelia Mandes ◽

Virginia Dinca-Balan ◽

Vilma Bursikova

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Thin Films ◽

Mechanical Properties ◽

Elastic Modulus ◽

Silicon Substrate ◽

Vacuum Arc ◽

Average Roughness ◽

Thermionic Vacuum Arc ◽

Induced Aggregation ◽

Ag Film

Nanostructured C-Ag thin films of 200 nm thickness were successfully synthesized by the Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) method. The influence of different substrates (glass, silicon wafers, and stainless steel) on the microstructure, morphology, and mechanical properties of nanostructured C-Ag thin films was characterized by High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and TI 950 (Hysitron) nanoindenter equipped with Berkovich indenter, respectively. The film’s hardness deposited on glass (HC-Ag/Gl = 1.8 GPa) was slightly lower than in the case of the C-Ag film deposited on a silicon substrate (HC-Ag/Si = 2.2 GPa). Also the apparent elastic modulus Eeff was lower for C-Ag/Gl sample (Eeff = 100 GPa) than for C-Ag/Si (Eeff = 170 GPa), while the values for average roughness are Ra=2.9 nm (C-Ag/Si) and Ra=10.6 (C-Ag/Gl). Using the modulus mapping mode, spontaneous and indentation-induced aggregation of the silver nanoparticles was observed for both C-Ag/Gl and C-Ag/Si samples. The nanocomposite C-Ag film exhibited not only higher hardness and effective elastic modulus, but also a higher fracture resistance toughness to the silicon substrate compared to the glass substrate.

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Electrostatic force microscopy analysis of Bi0.7Dy0.3FeO3 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition integrated with ZnO films for microelectromechanical systems and memory applications

Modern Electronic Materials ◽

10.3897/j.moem.4.2.33306 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 77-85

Author(s):

Deepak Bhatia ◽

Sandipta Roy ◽

S. Nawaz ◽

R.S. Meena ◽

V.R. Palkar

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Electrical Transport ◽

Microelectromechanical Systems ◽

Electrostatic Force ◽

Charge Trapping ◽

Electrostatic Force Microscopy ◽

Zno Films ◽

Phase Dependence ◽

Force Microscopy ◽

Electric Charge Distribution

In this paper, we report the charge trapping phenomena in zinc oxide (n-ZnO) and Bi0.7Dy0.3FeO3 (BDFO)/ZnO thin films deposited on p-type <100> conducting Si substrate. The significant change in contrast above the protrusions of ZnO verifies the possibility of heavy accumulation of injected holes in there. The ZnO and BDFO/ZnO films were characterized by the electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) to understand the phase dependence phenomenon on the bias supporting electron tunnelling. The EFM has an important role in the analysis of electrical transport mechanism characterization and electric charge distribution of local surface in nanoscale devices. It was observed that in BDFO/ZnO, the contrast of EFM images remains constant with the bias switching and that primarily indicates availability of trap sites to host electrons. The change in contrast over the protrusions of ZnO suggests that mobility of the electrical charge carriers may be through the grain boundary. The formation of these hole-trapped sites may be assumed by bond breaking phenomenon.

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