Deposition of ZrO2 film by liquid phase deposition

In this study, undoped ZrO2 thin films were deposited on single-crystal silicon substrates using liquid phase deposition. The undoped films were formed by hydrolysis of zirconium sulfate (Zr(SO4)2·4H2O) in the presence of H2O. A continuous oxide film was obtained by controlling adequate (NH4)2S2O8 concentration. The deposited films were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, XRD and DTA. Typically, the films showed excellent adhesion to the substrate with uniform particle diameter about 150 nm. The thicknesses of ZrO2 film were about 200 nm after 10 h deposition at 30 °C. These films shows single tetragonal phase after heat treated at 600 °C. High annealing temperature (e.g. 750 °C) may result in the phase transformation of (t)-ZrO2 into (m)-ZrO2.