Nanoporous structure of sputter-deposited silicon oxide films characterized by positronium annihilation spectroscopy

Positronium annihilation was applied to characterize the nanoporous structure of thin silicon oxide films sputter-deposited at different argon pressures ranging from 0.1 to 2.0 Pa. At higher argon pressures, the 3γ decay probability of ortho-positronium (o-Ps) was substantially enhanced. A comparison of this result with that obtained for capped samples indicated that: (a) 3γ annihilation is due to the intrinsic decay of o-Ps diffusing out from the film into vacuum and (b) films deposited at high argon pressures contain highly connected, open pores. Positron lifetime spectroscopy measurements on the capped films showed that the characteristic size of the pores can be as large as 2.6 nm, depending on the argon pressure.