Structure and composition of zirconium carbide thin-film grown by ion beam sputtering for optical applications

Thin film of compound material ZrC was deposited on Si (100) wafer using ion beam sputtering method. The deposition was carried out at room temperature and at base pressure of 3×10−5 Pa. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were performed for determining the surface chemical compositions. Grazing incidence x-ray reflectivity (GIXRR) measurements were performed to study the film thickness, roughness and density. From GIXRR curve roughness value of the film was found less than 1 nm indicating smooth surface morphology. Films density was found 6.51 g/cm3, which is close to bulk density. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed to check the surface morphology. AFM investigation showed that the film surface is smooth, which corroborate the GIXRR data. Figure 2 of the original article PDF file, as supplied to AIP Publishing, contained a PDF processing error. This article was updated on 12 May 2014 to correct that error