XPS and cathodoluminescence studies of HfO₂, Sc₂O₃ and (HfO₂)1-x(Sc₂O₃)_x films

¹ Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Lavrentiev ave. 5, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
² Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, Polytechnicheskaya st. 26, 194021 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
³ Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Lavrentiev ave. 3, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
⁴ Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Lavrentiev ave. 13, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

^a e-mail: vvk@catalysis.nsk.su

Received: 27 December 2012
Revised: 16 May 2013
Accepted: 5 September 2013
Published online: 25 October 2013

Abstract

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) method have been employed to study the chemical composition and the oxygen vacancy concentration of HfO₂, Sc₂ O₃ and (HfO₂)_1−x(Sc₂O₃)_x films. It was found that the increase of Sc content led to monotonic decreasing the Hf₄f_7/2 and Sc₂p_3/2 binding energies indicating to form solid solution (HfO₂)_1−x(Sc₂O₃)_x. All the samples characterized by the intensive CL spectra with maximum around 3 eV which originated due to some radiative recombination emission caused by oxygen deficiency. The concentration of oxygen vacancy in the Sc-doped HfO₂ is sensitive to the Sc content and as a result the intensity of CL spectra of (HfO₂)_1−x(Sc₂O₃)_x is lower that those of pure HfO₂ and Sc₂O₃.