High precision detection of change in intermediate range order of amorphous zirconia-doped tantala thin films due to annealing

Prasai, K. et al. (2019) High precision detection of change in intermediate range order of amorphous zirconia-doped tantala thin films due to annealing. Physical Review Letters, 123(4), 045501. (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.045501)

Abstract

Understanding the local atomic order in amorphous thin film coatings and how it relates to macroscopic performance factors, such as mechanical loss, provides an important path towards enabling the accelerated discovery and development of improved coatings. High precision x-ray scattering measurements of thin films of amorphous zirconia-doped tantala (ZrO2−Ta2O5) show systematic changes in intermediate range order (IRO) as a function of postdeposition heat treatment (annealing). Atomic modeling captures and explains these changes, and shows that the material has building blocks of metal-centered polyhedra and the effect of annealing is to alter the connections between the polyhedra. The observed changes in IRO are associated with a shift in the ratio of corner-sharing to edge-sharing polyhedra. These changes correlate with changes in mechanical loss upon annealing, and suggest that the mechanical loss can be reduced by developing a material with a designed ratio of corner-sharing to edge-sharing polyhedra.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: We acknowledge the support of the LSC Center for Coatings Research, jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF). In particular, the authors are grateful for support through NSF Grant No. PHY-1707866 and No. PHY-1708175, and GBMF Grant No. 6793. C. L., F. S., and R. S. are grateful for support from the NSERC, CFI, and FQRNT. D. A. D. is grateful for support from NSF Grant No. DMR-1506836. I. W. M. is supported by a Royal Society Research Fellowship.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Rowan, Professor Sheila and Martin, Dr Iain and Robie, Mr Raymond and MacLaren, Dr Ian and Hough, Professor James and Murray, Dr Peter
• Authors: Prasai, K., Jiang, J., Mishkin, A., Shyam, B., Angelova, S., Birney, R., Drabold, D.A., Fazio, M., Gustafson, E.K., Harry, G., Hoback, S., Hough, J., Lévesque, C., MacLaren, I., Markosyan, A., Martin, I.W., Menoni, C.S., Murray, P.G., Penn, S., Reid, S., Robie, R., Rowan, S., Schiettekatte, F., Shink, R., Turner, A., Vajente, G., Cheng, H.-P., Fejer, M.M., Mehta, A., and Bassiri, R.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Research Centre: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy > Institute for Gravitational Research
• Journal Name: Physical Review Letters
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• ISSN (Online): 1079-7114
• Published Online: 23 July 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 American Physical Society
• First Published: First published in Physical Review Letters 123(4):045501
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher