Optical characterization of ZnO thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering method

This study investigated the process parameter effects on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin film using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering on amorphous glass substrates. The process parameters included RF power and working pressure. Results show that RF power was increased to promote the crystalline quality and decrease ZnO thin film defects. However, when the working pressure was increased to 3 Pa the ZnO thin film crystalline quality became worse. At a 200 W RF power and 1 Pa working pressure, the ZnO thin film with an optical band gap energy of 3.225 eV was obtained. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50772006, 10432050)