Local structure of oxygen-deficient Yttrium oxide

Abstract

Yttrium oxide thin films have been deposited on Si (100) substrate by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), hard and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAFS) are employed to investigate the origin of oxygen vacancies and their influence on the structure and atomic distributions. The XRD results indicate that the Y2O3 thin films strongly orient the (111) axis of the cubic structure. Analyses on the Y K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structures reveal that the coordination number of Y atoms decreases and the bond length of Y-O contracts due to the loss of oxygen atoms. The X-ray absorption near edge structure analysis together with a theoretical approach further confirms the oxygen vacancies formation and their possible location. © 2013 Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.