Properties of amorphous ZrOx thin films deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc

The deposition of amorphous zirconium oxide thin films by off-plane double bend filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) is reported for the first time. The ZrOx growth is at room temperature and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed an amorphous film was deposited. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed that the film morphology is very smooth. The surface microstructure and interface properties of ZrOx thin films were investigated using monochromatic high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From depth profile, it was deduced that the bulk of the film was ∼ZrO1.9 and at the interface, O–Zr–Si types of bonds were observed to be present. Such amorphous films were observed to have a high optical bandgap of 5.2 eV and high refractive index of ∼2.0.