Evolution of the Quadrupole Hyperfine Interaction while milling a Si-HfO2 Blend

C.Y. CHAIN; S. FERRARI; L. C. DAMONTE; J.A. MARTINEZ; A.F. PASQUEVICH

Simposio; 18th International Symposium on Metastable, Amorphous and Nanostructured Materials, (ISMANAM 2011); 2011

As HfO2 appears as a good candidate to replace SiO2 in Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor devices, a refined knowledge of the possible solid state reactions between Si and HfO2 is valuable. Being the Perturbed Angular Correlation technique a very sensitive method to detect small changes in solid state, the goal of this work is to follow the different stages that occur while ball milling a blend Si-HfO2 by inspecting the hyperfine quadrupole interactions at Hf sites. The characterization is complemented by X-ray diffraction analysis. Results revealed a gradual incorporation of Si in the monoclinic lattice of hafnia with milling time. Si distorts the m-HfO2 phase which becomes precursor arrays of HfSiO4 structure. The fact is confirmed by the formation of important amount of crystalline hafnon after an annealing at moderate temperatures.