Preparation of Ta2O5 Solid Electrolyte Thin Film by Radical Assisted Sputtering Method

• Published in: Journal of the Vacuum Society of Japan Vol. 56; no. 11; pp. 469 - 471
• Main Authors: NISHIDA, Yuko, SEI, Humihiro, KAWANO, Yoshihiko, HUKUDOME, Syoji, SAI, Kyokuyo, NOGUCHI, Daisuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: The Vacuum Society of Japan 2013
• ISSN: 1882-2398; 1882-4749
• DOI: 10.3131/jvsj2.56.469

During fabrication of Ta2O5 solid-electrolyte thin films by radical-assisted sputtering, it was found that a radical-source (RS) treatment involving oxygen-radical irradiation of the Ta2O5 thin-film surface for different times enhanced its ECD response characteristics. The Ta2O5 films remained amorphous, regardless of the RS treatment time, even though changes were observed in their surface structure and relative density. The ionic conductivity of the films improved substantially due to the RS treatment, and tended to increase with treatment time. FT-IR identified no peak attributable to O-H stretching vibrations with or without the RS treatment, but the intensity of the peak associated with Ta-O stretching vibrations was found to increase with RS treatment time. This indicates that the increase in ionic conductivity was not related to the water content, but was instead the result of effective termination of oxygen defects in the thin film by the highly reactive oxygen radicals, thus enabling unimpeded H+ movement.