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The initial oxidation of zirconium—oxide‐film microstructure and growth mechanism
Author(s) -
Jeurgens L. P. H.,
Lyapin A.,
Mittemeijer E. J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.2218
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , microstructure , oxide , zirconium , thermal oxidation , kinetics , ellipsometry , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , atmospheric temperature range , thin film , chemical engineering , chemistry , metallurgy , nanotechnology , thermodynamics , physics , environmental chemistry , quantum mechanics , engineering
Abstract The initial stage of thermal oxidation of bare Zr within the temperature range of 373–773 K at a p O 2 of 2 × 10 −6 Pa was investigated by combined application of angle‐resolved XPS (AR‐XPS) and in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). A model description of the oxide‐film growth kinetics was achieved adopting coupled currents of cations and electrons within a surface‐charge field. The model could be fitted very well to the experimental data, thereby yielding profound knowledge of the relation between the oxidation mechanism and the developing oxide‐film microstructure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.