Properties of RF magnetron sputtered zinc oxide thin films

ZnO thin films were deposited on silicon substrate by RF magnetron sputtering using metallic zinc target. A systematic study has been made of the influence of oxygen concentration and the RF power on the films structural properties. They exhibited a c-axis orientation of below 0.32° FWHM of X-ray rocking curves, an extremely high resistivity of 10 12 Ω cm and an energy gap of 3.3 eV at room temperature. It was found that a RF power of 50 W, target to substrate distance 70 mm, very low gas pressures of 3.35×10 −3 Torr in argon and oxygen mixed gas atmosphere giving to ZnO thin films a good homogeneity and a high crystallinity.