Comparative study on structure and properties of ZnO thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering using pure metallic Zn target and ZnO ceramic target

Abstract

In this work, ZnO thin films was deposited onto Si substrate by ablation of different sputtering targets (ZnO ceramic target and pure metallic Zn target) under different substrate temperatures from 300°C to 600°C with intervals of 100°C, and the properties of ZnO thin films were analysed. The results showed that ZnO thin films had the c-axis preferred orientation and it also presented optimised properties owing to the reduction of thin film defects at a substrate temperature of 400°C. By analysing data, it could also be seen that the performance of ZnO thin films fabricated using the ZnO ceramic target was better than that of ZnO thin films fabricated using the pure metallic Zn target. It was considered that the excellent properties of ZnO thin films fabricated using the ZnO ceramic target were attributed to the decrease in oxygen vacancies and the reduction of film defects.

Vanadium promoted ZnO films: Effects on optical and photocatalytic properties

“…Sol–gel technique [12], electrodeposition [13], chemical bath deposition [14], hydrothermal synthesis [15], thermal plasma [16], atomic layer deposition [17] or thermal evaporation [18], sputtering or radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering [19], air plasma spraying [20,21], ablation techniques [22], and co-precipitation [23] have all been used to prepare ZnO thin films. Some researchers have reported the use of two-step processes, such as spin coating followed by growth treatment [24].…”

Cold-spray manufacturing of Zn/ZnO nanocomposite targets for ZnO sputtering

“…Among them, sputtering is particularly attractive because it offers a relatively high deposition rate combined with potentially precise control of the film properties [6][7][8][9]. However, properties of the sputtered ZnO thin films are strongly influenced by the characteristics of the sputtering target, such as chemical composition, density, conductivity, and microstructure of the target [10][11][12][13][14]. It is known, for instance, that high sputtering rates and uniform films can be achieved by using highly pure and ultra-fine-grained sputtering targets [15,16].…”

Growth temperature on ZnO:Al thin films morphology and optical properties

“…By controlling the size and morphology of the material to design the device, one or two or three-dimensional materials are prepared with a good structure and several hierarchies [2]. Zinc oxide (ZnO) has attracted wide interest with its versatile properties such as a large band gap (3.37 eV), high exciton binding energy (60 meV) at room temperature [3]. ZnO material is one of the promising materials for UV sensors [4].…”