Piotr Różański
supervisor: Robert Mroczyński
This work is devoted to the technology and characterization of thin films fabricated employing reactive magnetron sputtering using HIPIMS discharge. These materials include metal oxides and nitrides, such as titanium nitride (TiN) or titanium oxide (TiOx). The investigated materials play several important functions in various types of devices for novel electronic and photonic devices. The ultimate goal of this work is the examination of mutual dependences between the input parameters of the fabrication process (technological parameters) and the output parameters (properties of the obtained materials) to obtain ultrathin layers for the application of the MIM (Metal-Insulator-Metal) structures. Those structures are the basis of resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices.
In the first part of this work, optical properties of the fabricated materials will be examined and compared to the layers deposited through the typical pulsed-DC processes. Several oxide materials will be characterized in terms of thickness, refractive indices, transmittance, and reflectance in the UV-VIS range. The resistive switching properties of the MIM structures with the employed oxide materials are dependent of the presence of oxygen vacancies in the layer bulk. In order to monitor the stoichiometry of the oxide layers, MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structures will be fabricated. The analysis of the obtained electrical characteristics will be performed.