Characterization of the electrical and optical properties of the CrNxOy and AlNxOy thin films

Abstract

The metallic oxynitrides have attracted the attention of many researchers in the last decade due their versatile properties. By controlling the oxide/nitride ratio, the electronic properties of materials can be tuned from those of low resistivity metallic nitrides to those of insulator oxides. In this thesis the optical and electrical properties of AlNxOy and CrNxOy thin films, deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering, were investigated and correlated with their compositional and structural features. Depending on the particular deposition parameters that were selected, it was possible to identify different types of films with different growth conditions and physical properties. The optical and electrical properties of both type of films, was found to depend strongly on the chemical composition of the samples.