High-repetition rate pulsed laser deposition of ZrC thin films

ZrC thin films were grown on (100) Si substrates by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using a high-repetition rate excimer laser working at 40 Hz. The substrate temperature during depositions was set at 300 °C and the cooling rate was 5 °C/min. X-ray diffraction investigations showed that the films were crystalline. Films deposited under residual vacuum or 2 × 10− 3 Pa of CH4 atmosphere exhibited a (200)-axis texture, while those deposited under 2 × 10− 2 Pa of CH4 atmosphere were found to be equiaxed. The surface elemental composition of as-deposited films, analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), showed the usual high oxygen contamination of carbides. Once the topmost − 3–5 nm region was removed, the oxygen concentration rapidly decreased, being around 3–4% only in bulk. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations showed a smooth, featureless surface morphology, corroborating the roughness values below 1 nm (rms) obtained from simulations of the X-ray reflectivity (XRR) curves. From the same simulations we also estimated films mass density values of around 6.32–6.57 g/cm3 and thicknesses that correspond to a deposition rate of around 8.25 nm/min. Nanoindentation results showed a hardness of 27.6 GPa and a reduced modulus of 228 GPa for the best quality ZrC films deposited under an atmosphere of 2 × 10− 3 Pa CH4.