Yttrium oxide thin films: chemistry- stoichiometry-strain and microstructure

Yttrium oxide thin films were in-situ deposited by ion beam sputtering on Si, MgO and SrTiO₃ substrates. These Y₂O₃ thin films were investigated mainly by means of x-ray diffraction. The strained state of the oxide layers was studied by the sin²ψ method as a function of the deposition parameters as well as the post annealing treatments. An in situ study of the kinetics of the internal strain relaxation process was performed as a function of temperature. The Arhenius plot of relaxation rate gives the activation energy of this strain relaxation process, which is 1.3 eV. The results obtained in this work were interpreted in terms of crystal chemistry and the stoichiometry-microstructure relationship.