Studies of the electronic excitation modifications induced by SHI of Au ions in RF sputtered ZrO2 thin films

In the present study, Zirconium oxide thin films of 150 nm were grown by RF magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The prepared thin films annealed at 550 °C and irradiated with SHI of 120 MeV Au9+ ions by varying ion fluence between 1 × 1011 to 1 × 1013 ions/cm2. The modifications induced by SHI irradiation in structural, surface morphological, optical and chemical properties of the thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Photoluminescence (PL) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS). XRD result shows the formation of monoclinic and tetragonal phase with the change in the intensity of the peak is observed due to SHI irradiation. AFM measurements ensure that the grain size lies in the range of 33-46 nm and root mean square roughness increases up to a fluence of 5 × 1011 ions/cm2 then decrease for the higher fluence. Photoluminescence (PL) emission peaks were obtained at 456, 488 and 516 nm when the pristine and irradiated ZrO2 thin films are excited with 300 nm light. The obtained peak in Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) confirms the presence of Zr and O atoms in the samples.