Effects of sputtering power and pressure on properties of ZnO:Ga thin films prepared by oblique-angle deposition

The effects of power and pressure on radiofrequency (RF) diode sputtering in oblique-angle (80°) deposition arrangement are presented. Oblique-angle sputtering of ZnO:Ga (GZO) thin films resulted in a tilted columnar crystalline structure and inclination of the c-axis by an angle of approximately 9° with respect to the substrate. This improved their structural, electrical and optical properties in comparison with films deposited perpendicularly to the substrate. GZO films sputtered by an RF power of 600 W at room temperature of the substrate in Ar pressure 1.3 Pa showed strong crystalline (002) texture, lowest electrical resistivity 3.4 × 10^− 3 Ωcm, highest electron mobility 10 cm² V^− 1 s^− 1, high electron concentration 1.8 × 10²⁰ cm^− 3 and good optical transparency up to 88%. The small inclination angle of the film structure is caused by the high kinetic energy of sputtered species and additional energetic particle bombardment causes random surface diffusion, which is suppressing the shadow effect produced by oblique-angle sputtering.     

Effects of surface roughness of substrates on the c-axis preferred orientation of ZnO films deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering

The c-axis preferred orientation of ZnO film is the most important factor for its successful application in piezoelectric devices. The effects of surface roughness of the substrate on the c-axis preferred orientation of ZnO thin films, deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering, were investigated. During sputtering, the oxygen content in the argon environment used was varied from 0 to 70% at a total sputtering pressure of 10 mTorr. Very smooth Si, smooth evaporated Au/Si, smooth evaporated-Al/Si, and rough sputtered-Al/Si were used as substrates. Their r.m.s. roughnesses, as measured by atomic force microscopy, were 1.27, 17.1, 21.1 and 65-118 Å, respectively. The crystalline structure and the angular spread of the (0 0* 2) plane normal to the ZnO films were determined using X-ray diffraction and X-ray rocking curves, respectively. The crystallinity and the preferred c-axis orientation of the ZnO films were strongly dependent on the surface roughness of the substrates rather than on the oxygen content of the working environment or on the chemical nature of the substrate.     

Femtosecond laser deposited zinc oxide film and its optical properties

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been grown on Si (100) substrates using a femto-second pulsed laser deposition (fsPLD) technique. The effects of substrate temperature and laser energy on the structural, surface morphological and optical properties of the films are discussed. The X-ray diffraction results show that the films are highly c-axis oriented when grown at 80 °C and (103)-oriented at 500 °C. In the laser energy range of 1.0 mJ-2.0 mJ, the c-axis orientation increases and the mean grain size decreases for the films deposited at 80 °C. The field emission scanning electron microscopy indicates that the films have a typical hexagonal structure. The optical transmissivity results show that the transmittance increases with the increasing substrate temperature. In addition, the photoluminescence spectra excited with 325 nm light at room temperature are studied. The structural properties of ZnO films grown using nanosecond (KrF) laser are also discussed.     

Radio frequency sputter deposition of high-quality conductive and transparent ZnO:Al films on polymer substrates for thin film solar cells applications

Thick aluminum-doped zinc oxide films were deposited at substrate temperatures from 100 °C to room temperature on polyethylene terephthalate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering, varying the deposition parameters such as radio frequency power and working pressure.Structural, optical and electrical properties were analyzed using an x-ray diffractometer, a spectrophotometer and a four-point probe, respectively. Films were polycrystalline showing a strong preferred c-axis orientation (002). The best optical and electrical results were achieved using a substrate temperature of 100 °C. Furthermore, high transmittances close to 80% in the visible wavelength range were obtained for those films deposited at the lowest Argon pressure used of 0.2 Pa. In addition, resistivities as low as 1.1 × 10^− 3 Ω cm were reached deposited at a RF power of 75 W. Finally, a comparison of the properties of the films deposited on polymer and glass substrates was performed, obtaining values of the figure of merit for the films on polymer comparable to those obtained on glass substrates, 17,700 Ω^− 1 cm^− 1 vs 14,900 Ω^− 1 cm^− 1, respectively.     

On the structural and electrical characteristics of zinc oxide thin films

ZnO thin films with thickness d = 100 nm were deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering onto glass substrate from different targets. The structural analyses of the films indicate they are polycrystalline and have a wurtzite (hexagonal) structure. Crystallites are preferentially oriented with (002) plane parallel to the substrate surface and the samples have low values for surface roughness, between 1.7 nm and 2.7 nm. The mechanism of electrical conduction in the studied films is strongly influenced by this polycrystalline structure and we used Van der Pauw method to analyze these properties. Electrical studies indicate that the ZnO thin films are n-type. For the cooling process, thermal activation energy of electrical conduction of the samples can vary from 1.22 eV to 1.07 eV (for the ZnO layer obtained from for metallic Zn target) and from 0.90 eV to 0.63 eV (for the ZnO layer obtained from ZnO target), respectively. The influence of deposition arrangement and oxidation conditions on the structural and electrical properties of the ZnO films was investigated in detail.     

Characteristics of strontium-doped ZnO films on love wave filter applications

The effect of dopant concentrations in strontium-doped ZnO films on Love wave filter characteristics was investigated. Strontium-doped ZnO films with a c-axis preferred orientation were grown on ST-cut quartz by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The crystalline structures and surface morphology of films were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The electromechanical coupling coefficient, dielectric constant, and temperature coefficient of frequency of filters were then determined using a network analyzer. A uniform crystalline structure and smooth surface of the ZnO films were obtained at the 1-2 mol% strontium dopant level. The electromechanical coupling coefficient of the 1 mol% strontium-doped ZnO film reaches a maximum of 0.61%, and the temperature coefficient of frequency declines to + 12.87 ppm/°C at a 1.5 mol% strontium dopant level.     

Nanostructures and sensing properties of ZnO prepared using normal and oblique angle deposition techniques

Nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) for gas sensing application has been prepared by using normal and oblique angle sputtering deposition techniques under different substrate temperatures. Oblique angle plasma beam deposition is demonstrated effectively growing large-area uniformly aligned and inclined ZnO nanorod arrays on catalyst-free silicon substrate due to a self-shadowing mechanism, whereas normal radio frequency sputtering deposition yields nanoparticles as island growth mode. Furthermore, the density of the nanorod arrays is dependent on the incident angle of ZnO plasma beam. With an increase of the incident flux angle, large inter spacing was induced, resulting in sparser nanorod arrays. The nanorod arrays grown with an incident angle of 70° have an average diameter of ∼ 150-300 nm and length of ∼ 700-750 nm. The experimental data from characterization of the samples indicates that the obtained samples at different substrate temperatures and incident angles have wurtzite structure with a c-axis orientation.Sensing characterization reveals that the nanorod-based sensor shows higher sensitivity, faster response and recovery time, as well as better reproducibility than that of nanoparticle-based gas sensor to 100 ppm hydrogen and methane at low operating temperature below 150 °C due to the porosity and large grain boundaries of the nanorod arrays. It demonstrates that oblique angle of sputtering deposition is a simple, inexpensive synthesis process to get high-porosity nanostructures and as a result, improves the sensing properties of fabricated ZnO sensors, which permits us to obtain sensors with high sensitivity, low operating temperature and stability.     

Fabrication of epitaxial ZnO films by atomic-layer deposition with interrupted flow

We formed epitaxial ZnO thin films on a (0001) c-plane sapphire substrate through deposition of atomic layers (ALD) at 25-160 °C using diethylzinc (DEZn) and deionized water as precursors in combination with interrupted flow. High-resolution X-ray diffraction measurements were employed to characterize the microstructure of these films. With interrupted flow, we obtained ZnO thin films with an optimal growth window in a range of 40-160 °C, effectively decreasing the growth temperature by about 120 °C relative to a conventional method involving continuous flow. X-ray reflectivity measurements showed that the rate of growth increased also between 20 °C and 120 °C. The XRD results indicate that the stock time might extend the reaction of DEZn and water through an increased duration. All results show that a low temperature for growth improves the crystalline quality and is consistent with thermodynamically blocked self-compensation.     

Characteristics of laser-annealed ZnO thin film transistors

We investigated the effects of laser annealing on ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs). ZnO layers were deposited on a bottom-gate patterned Si substrate by radio-frequency sputtering at room temperature. Laser annealing of the ZnO films reduced the full width at half maximum of the ZnO (002) diffraction peak from 0.49° to 0.1°. It reveals that the crystalline quality is improved by annealing effect. A SiO₂ formed in low temperature was used as the gate dielectric. Unannealed ZnO-TFTs were operated in enhancement mode with a threshold voltage of 21.6 V. They had a field-effect mobility of 0.004 cm²/Vs and an on/off current ratio of 134. Laser annealing of the ZnO-TFTs by 200 laser pulses reduced their threshold voltage to 0.6 V and increased their field-effect mobility to 5.08 cm²/Vs. The increase of mobility is originated from the crystallization enhancement of ZnO films after laser annealing.     

The effects of substrate temperature on the structure and properties of ZnO films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

ZnO thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on glass substrates with growth temperature from room temperature (RT) to 500 °C. The effects of substrate temperature on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission spectra, and RT photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The results showed that crystalline and (0 0 2)-oriented ZnO films were obtained at all substrate temperatures. As the substrate temperature increased from RT to 500 °C, the ratio of grain size in height direction to that in the lateral direction gradually decreased. The same grain size in two directions was obtained at 200 °C, and the size was smallest in all samples, which may result in maximum E_g and E₀ of the films. UV emission was observed only in the films grown at 200 °C, which is probably because the stoichiometry of ZnO films was improved at a suitable substrate temperature. It was suggested that the UV emission might be related to the stoichiometry in the ZnO film rather than the grain size of the thin film.     

Effect of Ag doping on the performance of ZnO thin film transistor

Ag-doped zinc oxide (SZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) have been fabricated using a back-gate structure on thermally oxidized and heavily doped p-Si (100) substrate. The SZO thin films were deposited via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a 1, 3, and 5 wt.% Ag-doped ZnO (1SZO, 3SZO, and 5SZO, respectively) target using a KrF excimer laser (λ, 248 nm) at oxygen pressure of 350 mTorr. The deposition carried out at both room-temperature (RT) and 200 °C. The SZO thin films had polycrystalline phase with preferred growth direction of (002) as well as a wurtzite hexagonal structure. Compare with ZnO thin films, the SZO thin films were characterized by confirming the shift of (002) peak to investigate the substitution of Ag dopants for Zn sites. The as-grown SZO TFTs deposited at RT and 200 °C showed insulator characteristics. However the SZO TFTs annealed at 500 °C showed good n-type TFT performance because Ag was diffused from Zn lattice site and bound themselves at the high temperature, and it caused generation of electron carriers. The post-annealed 5SZO TFT deposited at 500 °C exhibited a threshold voltage (V_th) of 11.5 V, a subthreshold swing (SS) of 2.59 V/decade, an acceptable mobility (μ_SAT) of 0.874 cm²/V s, and on-to-off current ratios (I_on/off) of 1.44 × 10⁸.     

Growth of a-b-axis orientation ZnO films with zinc vacancies by SSCVD

Zinc oxide (ZnO) films were grown on silicon (1 0 0) substrates by single-source chemical vapor deposition (SSCVD). X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that ZnO thin films have a polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure with (1 0 0) and (1 0 1) orientation, i.e., a-b-axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) showed the films to be of relatively high density with a smooth surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the deposited films were very close to stoichiometry but contained a small number of zinc instead of O vacancies as normally found with ZnO films produced by other methods. These results were also confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) measurements.     

Effect of precursor on epitaxially grown of ZnO thin film on p-GaN/sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrate by hydrothermal technique

Single crystalline ZnO thin film on p-GaN/sapphire (0 0 0 1) substrate, using two different precursors by hydrothermal route at a temperature of 90 °C were successfully grown. The effect of starting precursor on crystalline nature, surface morphology and optical emission of the films were studied. ZnO thin films were grown in aqueous solution of zinc acetate and zinc nitrate. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that all the thin films were single crystalline in nature and exhibited wurtzite symmetry and c-axis orientation. The thin films obtained with zinc nitrate had a more pitted rough surface morphology compared to the film grown in zinc acetate. However the thickness of the films remained unaffected by the nature of the starting precursor. Sharp luminescence peaks were observed from the thin films almost at identical energies but deep level emission was slightly prominent for the thin film grown in zinc nitrate.     

Study on ZnO thin films deposited on sol-gel grown ZnO buffer by RF magnetron sputtering

ZnO thin films with preferential C-orientation and dense microstructure have been prepared using RF magnetron sputtering method by the insertion of a sol-gel grown ZnO buffer layer. The XRD results show that the C-orientation of the film deposited on ZnO buffer is obviously better than that deposited directly on lime-glass substrate. With an increase of the RF power from 100 to 380 W, C-orientation of the films with ZnO buffer improves and the grain size increases. When the RF power equals 550 W, the orientation of the film changes to (1 0 0) and the grain size decreases. The crystalline and microstructure quality of the films can be improved after annealing, however, the grain size is not much dependent on the annealing temperature in the range of 560-610 °C.     

The properties of transparent semiconductor Zn1 − xTixO thin films prepared by the sol-gel method

Transparent semiconductor thin films of Zn_1 − xTi_xO (0 ≦ x ≦ 0.12) were deposited on alkali-free glass substrates by the sol-gel method. The effects of Ti addition on the crystallization, microstructure, optical properties and resistivity of ZnO thin films were investigated. The as-coated films were preheated at 300 °C, and then annealed at 500 °C in air ambiance. X-ray diffraction results showed all polycrystalline Zn_1 − xTi_xO thin films with preferred orientation along the (002) plane. Ti incorporated within the ZnO thin films not only decreased surface roughness but also increased optical transmittance and electrical resistivity. In the present study, the Zn_0.88Ti_0.12O film exhibited the best properties, namely an average transmittance of 91.0% (an increase of ~ 12% over the pure ZnO film) and an RMS roughness value of 1.04 nm.     

Deposition of Al-doped ZnO thin-films with radio frequency magnetron sputtering for a source/drain electrode for pentacene thin-film transistor

Al-doped ZnO thin-films were deposited with the radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique at various temperatures and sputtering powers for a source/drain electrode in the pentacene thin-film transistor. With the increase in the deposition temperature and the decrease in the radio frequency sputtering power, the crystallinity was increased and the surface roughness was decreased, which lead to the decrease in the electrical resistivity of the film. Al-doped ZnO film deposited at 200 °C and sputtering power of 50 W showed a low resistivity (9.73 × 10⁴ μΩcm), high crystallinity, low roughness and uniform surface morphology. The pentacene thin-film transistor fabricated with Al-doped ZnO film as a source/drain electrode showed a device performance, (mobility: 7.89 × 10^− 3 cm²/Vs and on/off ratio: ~ 5 × 10⁴) which is comparable with an indium tin oxide electrode grown at room temperature.     

Elaboration and characterization of Co doped, conductive ZnO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature

Nanocrystalline, highly (at.%) Co doped ZnO powder, obtained by a modified sol-gel method, was used as a target material for the growth of µm thin films by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The films were deposited at room temperature on quartz substrates. The as-deposited films were polycrystalline but highly textured with the c-axis aligned normal to the substrate plane. They present high optical transmittance in the visible range of approximately 90%, a carrier concentration of about 10²⁰ cm^− 3 and electrical resistivity of 10^− 3 Ω cm at room temperature. The analysis of the Co²⁺ spectrum by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) showed the Co to be incorporated substitutionally and the angular variation EPR spectrum demonstrates a monocrystal like texturing of the films with the c-axis normal to the film plane.     

Low-temperature preparation of phosphorus doped μc-Si:H thin films by low-frequency inductively coupled plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition

The phosphorus doped n-type hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (n-μc-Si:H) thin films are prepared, at the two low substrate temperatures of room temperature and 200 °C, through a low-frequency inductively coupled plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition. The effect of the substrate temperature on the structural properties of the thin films, such as the X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns and the Raman spectra, is studied. The XRD measurements show that the diffraction orientations of the thin films present an obvious change when the radio frequency power is increased from 1300 W to 2300 W. The Raman spectra of the thin films deposited at room temperature unambiguously present a phase transition from the amorphous structure to microcrystalline structure whereas no structural phase transition is observed for the thin films deposited at 200 °C. The effect of the substrate temperature on the crystalline volume fraction of the thin films presents a large difference for the radio frequency power in the range of 1300 W-1700 W, while the difference becomes small when the power is increased from 1700 W to 2300 W. The deposition rate and the radio frequency power-sheet resistance curve of the thin films deposited at room temperature are obviously different from those of the thin films prepared at 200 °C. It is attributed to the joint effect of the radio frequency power and substrate temperature on the doping concentration. The electron energy distribution function of the species in the chamber is mainly distributed in a low energy range.     

Effect of dopant concentration on the structural, electrical and optical properties of Mn-doped ZnO films

The Mn-doped ZnO (Zn_1 − xMn_xO) thin films with manganese compositions in the range of 0-8 at.% were deposited by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on quartz glass substrates at room temperature (RT). The influence of Mn concentration on the structural, electrical and optical properties of Zn_1 − xMn_xO films has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements reveal that all the films are single phase and have wurtzite structure with (002) c-axis orientation. The chemical states of Mn have been identified as the divalent state of Mn²⁺ ions in ZnO lattice. As the content of Mn increases, the c-lattice constant and the optical band gap of the films increase while the crystalline quality deteriorates gradually. Hall-effect measurements reveal that all the films are n-type and the conductivity of the films has a severe degradation with Mn content. It is also found that the intensity of RT photoluminescence spectra (PL) is suppressed and saturates with Mn doping.     

Study of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of ZnO films by non-thermal plasma jet at atmospheric pressure

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using a non-thermal plasma jet was applied to deposition of ZnO films. Using vaporized bis(octane-2,4-dionato)zinc flow crossed by the plasma jet, the deposition rate was as high as several tens of nm/s. From the results of infrared spectra, the films deposited at the substrate temperature T_sub = 100 °C contained a significant amount of carbon residue, while the films prepared at T_sub = 250 °C showed less carbon fraction. The experimental results confirmed that the plasma jet decomposed bis(octane-2,4-dionato)zinc in the gaseous phase and on the substrate, and that there should be the critical T_sub to form high-quality ZnO films in the range from 100 to 250 °C.