We have studied
Zr1−XCeXO2 film growth on (001)
Si by Pulsed Laser Deposition using sputtering of
metallic alloy targets and sintered ceramic targets.
The conditions of the epitaxial growth have been found and
optimized. The epitaxial oxide film growth (001) [100]||(001) [100] Si was obtained for a range of CeO2
content in ZrO2: from 4.5 up to 14% mol in ZrO2.
The oxide film structure corresponds to a tetragonal phase with strong
preference for c-axis
orientation normal to the growth surface. The results obtained by RHEED, XRD and AFM
methods have confirmed the high quality of
heteroepitaxial Zr1−XCeXO2
layers, and the difference in
crystallinities for the films grown from
metallic alloy targets and ceramic targets was evaluated. The XRD
results show the absence of any reflection distinct
from (00l) and (l00) for films grown from alloy targets, and, in
contrast with this, the film structure contains
some random oriented inclusions in the case of oxide target
deposition. Use of metallic alloy
Zr-12% Ce targets and low oxygen pressure during deposition provide the best
film quality with the minimum of surface microrelief
(Rrms < 0.3 nm for 1 × 1 µm2
surface area was achieved).