Electron probe microanalysis of HfO2 thin films on conductive and insulating substrates

Quantitative electron probe microanalysis of highly insulating materials is a complicated problem, partially solved by coating samples with grounded thin conductive layers or using novel scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques, such as low-voltage and/or variable pressure SEM. In this work, some problems of quantitative x-ray microanalysis of thin HfO2 films, in particular the possibility to determine mass thickness correlated to the density of the layer material, are discussed. For comparison, Al2O3, Ta2O5 and TiO2 films grown onto both semiconductive Si and insulating quartz substrates were also analyzed. All the films studied were synthesized by atomic layer deposition method. (author)