Thermodynamic calculations offer insight in the stability of materials: the annealing behavior of amorphous Ru-Si-O and Ir-Si-O thin films

Themodynamic calculations are preformed for the ternary systems Ru---Si---O and Ir---Si---O. Their comparison with experimental results on the annealing behavior of amorphous Ru---Si---O and Ir---Si---O films in vacuum and in oxidizing ambients offers convincing insights in the underlying causes of the better stability of amorphous Ir---Si---O than amorphous Ru---Si---O films under exposure to oxygen, and why the opposite is true in vacuum. These results demonstrate that thermodynamic calculations can help in the judicious selection of materials for the microelectronic technology that have to meet desired goals of stability.