Structural and optical properties of sputtered ZnO films

ZnO thin films were deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering from zinc oxide target. The composition (O/Zn atomic ratio) determined by Rutherford backsc attering spectrometry depends narrowly on the sputtering parameters. The O/ Zn atomic ratio is found to increase with the oxygen partial and the total pressures; however substoichiometric films were obtained at low pressures a nd high sputtering powers in the nonreactive deposition process. X-ray diff raction measurements show that all the films are crystallized in the wurtzi te form and present a preferred orientation along the [002] direction. The crystallinity is found to increase with the kinetic energy of the sputtered particles. The films contain compressive stresses originating mainly from the contribution of the intrinsic component. A post deposition heat treatme nt is essential to produce relaxation of the stresses. Scanning electron mi crographs show that the ZnO deposits have a columnar structure. the compact ness of the films is dependent on the sputtering conditions. The EXAFS meas urements show that Zn atoms have a tetrahedral environment with a zinc-oxyg en distance of 1.95 Angstrom. infrared investigations confirm these finding s and show that zinc atoms stay tetra hedrally coordinated even though the O/Zn atomic ratio changes from 0.95 to 1.06. The optical constants (refract ive index and absorption coefficient) vary also in a wide range. Their vari ations were related to the composition and structure evolution. (C) 1999 El sevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.