Thickness determination of SrZrO3 thin films using both X-ray reflectometry and SIMS techniques

High-k SrZrO3 perovskite thin films, suitable for microelectronics applications were deposited under various conditions on plane Si (100) substrates by direct liquid injection metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method. Depending on the deposition temperature, films were mono- or multi-layered and either crystallized either amorphous. Amorphous films were annealed in order to obtain the expected orthorhombic perovskite structure. The thicknesses of individual layer as well as multi-layers of the stacks were determined with reflectometry measurements. SIMS measurements were also conducted on the thin films to estimate the order of the multi-layers. Thicknesses were successfully confirmed by this destructive method and chemical environment of the films was determined as well as the composition of the layers. Compared with infrared transmission measurements on as-deposited and post-annealed films, it gives clues on desorption of volatile species. Thus, crystallographic and chemical structures were precise on studied samples.