Activation of Zr–Co–rare earth getter films: An XPS study

✍ Scribed by D. Petti; M. Cantoni; M. Leone; R. Bertacco; E. Rizzi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 694 KB
• Volume: 256
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0169-4332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.04.006

✦ Synopsis

Thin films of non-evaporable getters are employed in the field of electronic devices packaging, as they provide a simple and effective solution for pumping in sealed applications. In particular thin films of Zr-Co-rare earth alloys deposited by sputtering have been developed for this purpose and successfully employed in industrial applications. In this paper we present an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigation of the effect of thermal activation of the getter from the point of view of the induced surface chemical modification as seen by such a surface sensitive technique. We find that the activation process reflects in a clear reduction of Zr, accompanied by a decrease of the oxygen concentration at surface, which is fully accomplished already at 350 • C; while at 450 • C there is a significant increase of the cobalt concentration at surface.