Abstract
The research is concentrated in the orientation control and characterization of ruthenium dioxide (RuO2) thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Changing sputtering parameters, including O2 flow ratio, substrate temperature, RF power density, and substrate type, is investigated. And the effects of sputtering parameters on the orientation, surface morphology, surface roughness, and chemical bonding of RuO2 thin films are characterized by XRD, SEM, SPM, and XPS respectively. Under mediate O2 flow ratio (25%) and lower substrate temperature (300℃), we get the (110)-orientation preferred RuO2 films, and the (101)-orientation preferred films growth under high O2 flow ratio (50%) and high substrate temperature (450℃). The surface becomes rougher with the increase of O2 flow ratio and substrate temperature. The chemical bonding exhibits the coexistence of Ru and RuO2 under lower O2 flow ratio. As O2 flow ratio is raised, RuO3 is found in XPS spectra, and the ratio will increase with the O2 flow ratio and substrate temperature. Besides, by changing substrate as Ru or Pt/MgO, the RuO2 films will exhibit highly (200)-oriented films, no matter the O2 flow ratio, substrate temperature, and chemical bonding.