Structural and electrical characteristics of high quality (100) orientated-Zn3N2 thin films grown by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

We report on highly crystalline zinc nitride (Zn3N2) thin films which were grown by rf magnetron sputtering on quartz substrates. The substrate temperature during growth is found to strongly affect the crystal quality of the thin films. The chemical bonding states were determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Large chemical shifts in core-level N 1s peaks with binding energy of 396.4 eV were observed as compared to N 1s of free amine (398.8 eV), indicating Zn–N bond formation. Two N 1s states were found: one is N1 formed by Zn–N bonds and another is (N2) produced by substitution of N molecules at N ion sites, which leads to larger lattice constants, consistent with x-ray diffraction results. Temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements of our Zn3N2 films exhibited distinct conduction mechanisms at specific different temperature ranges.