Recently, it was shown that smooth relatively thick films can be prepa
red from low melting point materials by ion bombardment in unbalanced
magnetron sputtering. The transition from Zn films with rough surfaces
and milky appearances to shiny ones with a smooth surface with increa
sing substrate bias is studied here from the point of view of X-ray di
ffraction (XRD) microstructural parameters, such as preferred grain or
ientation and lattice strain. Extremely strong (001) texture was found
for the smooth films. A maximum of preferred orientation at the subst
rate biases of about 400 V corresponds to the maximum of argon content
and also to the high XRD line broadening and low value of the lattice
parameter c perpendicular to the surface.