Low energy Xe ion beam engineering in optical, structural and morphological properties of hafnium oxide thin films grown by atomic layer deposition technique

Hafnium oxide (HfO₂) exhibit chemical resistivity, thermal stability and mechanical resilience on account of which it is used in numerous applications in integrated and optical circuit technology. In the present work, HfO₂ thin films have been grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique on silicon and glass substrate. After growth of the films were irradiated with the Xe ion beam with distinct fluence of 1E15–1E16 ions/cm². Optical properties of films were investigated by the UV–VIS and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The crystallographic parameters were illustrated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of pristine and ion beam treated thin films. Morphology of surface has been studied through atomic force microscopy (AFM).