Crystal growth kinetics of ultra-thin ZrO2 film on Si by differential scanning calorimetry

Crystal growth kinetics of thin ZrO2 film deposited on Si is described in the framework of Johnson, Mehl and Avrami (JMA) equation and Kissinger method. Differential scanning calorimetry is employed here to determine the Avrami exponent and the activation energy of crystalline transition from the amorphous nature of ZrO2/Si. The activation energy is found to be 0.77±0.06 eV, estimated from the slope of Kissinger plot. From the variation of Avrami exponent, it is observed that the crystallization of ZrO2 begins at the ZrO2/Si interface and grows normal to the interface at lower temperature range. The crystallization grows laterally, identified as heterogeneous nucleation at the grain boundary that dominates at higher temperature range indicating an increase in its grain size without increasing the number of grains. Only the growth along the grain boundary occurs during heterogeneous crystallization.