Effect of Annealing on Optical, Mechanical, Electrical Properties and Structure of Scandium Oxide Films

Abstract

Scandium oxide (Sc2O3) films are deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The effects of annealing on the structure, as well as the optical, mechanical, and electrical properties are investigated. The detailed investigation of the mechanical properties and high load indentation resistance in combination with electrical and optical properties is done. It is noted that after annealing at 300 °C, the extinction coefficient and refractive index slightly decreases. It is reported that before and after annealing, Sc2O3 films with cubic phase remains very hard (19 GPa) and resistant to high load (up to 1N) indentation test. Moreover, the effects of post‐deposition annealing on electrical characteristics of metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structures with Sc2O3 gate dielectric layer are investigated. After the annealing procedure, the MIS structures are characterized by lower frequency dispersion, lower flat‐band voltage value, and lower effective charge density. The insulating properties remain at similar level when compared with the devices fabricated with as‐deposited dielectric material. The findings that are in this study make the investigated Sc2O3 films a promising material for various applications in optics, optoelectronic, and electronic semiconductor structures.

Investigations of Structural and Electrical Properties of ALD Films Formed with the Ozone Precursor

“…The quality of obtained MOS structures was examined with a Keithley 4200 semiconductor characterization system (Tektronix, Beaverton, OR, USA) equipped with SUSS PM-8 probe station utilizing current–voltage (I-V) and capacitance–voltage (C-V) characteristic analyses. The procedure of the extraction of electrical parameters of the examined MIS structures was described in [ 28 ].…”

Silicon-Carbide (SiC) Nanocrystal Technology and Characterization and Its Applications in Memory Structures

“…For the program-erase voltage investigations, subsequent voltage pulses of the opposite polarity were used. The electrical measurements were conducted with the Keithley 4200 semiconductor characterization system and SUSS PM-8 probe station, as presented in [15]. The procedure of electrical parameters extraction used in this work was described in detail in [16].…”

The study of the Kinetic Characteristics of Sorption of Scandium of Ion Exchanger Purolite MTS9580 from Return Circulating Solutions of Underground Leaching of Uranium Ores

“…In the calculation, the ratio of the concentration of the target element in the mother liquor (C e ) to the concentration in the incoming solution (C 0 ) was used as a function of the duration or volume (1) Eurasian Chemico-Technological Journal 22 (2020) 135-140 of the missed solution. The integral area under the output curve allows you to find the number of adsorbed target element.…”

“…Scandium is a precious and rare metal due to the high cost of scandium and the complex metallurgical processes of its isolation and purification. Scandium is used in high-strength aluminum alloys, solid oxide fuel cells, electronics and in laser technology and magnets [1,2,3]. A mixture containing scandium oxide in combination with an Al-CoCrFeNi alloy was investigated, which led to the discovery of a promising nanodiamond composite [4].…”