120 MeV Ag high energy irradiation effects in physical and chemical properties of ALD grown HfO₂ thin films and their applications

HfO₂ has allured the significant attention on account of its chemical and thermal stability, large bandgap value, high dielectric constant and refractive index, good transmittance values in ultraviolet and infrared bands establish it as a significant candidate for resistive switching oxide and optical materials. In the present work the effect of Ag ion beam with 120 MeV high energy treatment of HfO₂ ALD grown thin films with thickness 40 nm is examined at distinct ion fluence from 1E12 to 1E13 ions/cm². The present work reports the influence of 120 MeV Ag ion beam irradiation on the optical, structural and morphological characteristics of thin films grown by ALD method on glass and silicon substrate. The Tauc plots have been used to calculate the optical bandgap of films give the details of structure of films on account of slope of the plot is associated with the degree of the order in the network of bond. The SRIM simulation has been explored for the study of electronic and nuclear energy loss takes place in the samples. Structural analysis of pristine and ion beam irradiated thin films were studied by the X-ray diffraction technique. The effect of ion beam irradiation on the surface morphology were studied by the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), reveals that grain size rely on the variation takes place in the ion beam fluence. The ion beam causes surface state and interstitial defects in thin films samples as remarked by the Photoluminescence characterization method. Additionally, the RBS was used for the calculation of thickness of films. (author)