Influences of post-deposition annealing on the properties of the ZrO_2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation

摘要

The ZrO_2 thin films were deposited on BK7 glass substrates by electron beam evaporation method at room temperature. The influences of post-deposition annealing between 200℃ and 400℃ on the structural and mechanical properties of the films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. It was found that a monoclinic phase formed at lower temperature of 200℃. With the increase of the annealing temperature, the tetragonal phase appeared. The stress in ZrO_2 films showed a transition from tensile to compressive which could be explained as the evolution of the microstructure as function of annealing temperatures. At the same time, the refractive index of the ZrO_2 films increased with the increasing of annealing temperatures, which may be ascribed to the microstructure densification of the ZrO_2 films.