Variation of film porosity with substrate rotation in RF sputtered glancing angle deposited ZrO₂ thin films

In present work, several ZrO₂, thin films have been fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering in glancing angle configuration with varying substrate rotation. All the films have been investigated for their porosity and surface morphology by performing grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy measurements. It has been observed that film porosity increases with the increase in substrate rotation. Such results have been explained in terms of variation in column diameters of columnar microstructure of films. Results have also been compared with normally deposited ZrO₂, thin films. Glancing angle deposited films depict a great increase in film porosity in comparison of normally deposited film. Such increase in porosity has been explained in terms increased atomic shadowing effects at glancing deposition. (author)