Deposition and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies on sputtered cerium dioxide thin films

Cerium dioxide is a rare earth oxide material that can be useful in various optical and electronic applications because of its high refractive index and its dielectric constant. The purpose of this study was to conduct an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of sputtered cerium dioxide thin films. The thin films were deposited onto glass substrates using rf magnetron sputtering. A cerium dioxide target was used and various oxygen–argon gas flow ratios under different sputtering power levels were used for deposition. The results presented here characterize the properties of the rf sputtered cerium dioxide thin films under different deposition conditions.