Monoclinic to tetragonal phase transition in ZrO2 thin films under swift heavy ion irradiation: Structural and electronic structure study

ZrO2 thin films were deposited on Si (1 0 0) substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Swift heavy ion irradiation experiments, with different ion fluence, were performed using 200 MeV Ag-ion beam. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and O K – edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements confirmed the dissolution of monoclinic phase and fruition of tetragonal phase of ZrO2 with the increase of ion fluence. The mechanism of such structural evolutions is briefly discussed in light of ion-irradiation induced local temperature rising, overlapping of latent tracks and energy loss processes.