Applications of atomic force microscopy for thin film boundary measurements
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2002 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Jemná mechanika a optika |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://hydra.physics.muni.cz/~franta/bib/JMO2002_195.html |
| Field | Optics, masers and lasers |
| Keywords | Roughness; Atomic Force Microscopy |
| Description | In this article results concerning both the theoretical and experimental studies of the upper boundaries of columnar thin fil ms performed using the atomic force microscopy are presented. Main statistical quantities used to determine the roughness of the columnar thin film upper boundary properties are decribed. The errors due to the tip convolution effects are discussed as well. For the theoretical study the columnar structure obtained by a simple Monte-Carlo simulation is employed. The experime ntal values of the statistical quantities are obtained by measuring the HfO2 (hafnia) and ZrO2 (zirconia) thin films created by vacuum evaporation. Within both the theoretical and experimental studies presented it is shown that the strongest misrepresentation of the measured roughness of the upper boundaries of the columnar thin films originates for the linear dimensions o f the columns smaller or comparable with the linear dimensions of the tip of an atomic force microscope used. The results of the surface reconstruction algorithm effects on improving the values of the statistical parameters are presented too. |
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