Crystallinity and Photoluminescence Properties of ZnO Films on Zn Buffer Layers Deposited by rf Magnetron Sputtering

It is very desirable to grow ZnO epitaxial films on Si substrates since Si wafers with a high quality is available and their prices are quite low. Nevertheless, it is not easy to grow ZnO films epitaxially on Si substrates directly because of formation of an amorphous SiO2 layer at the interface of ZnO and Si. A Zn film and an undoped ZnO film were deposited sequentially on an (100) Si substrate by rf magnetron sputtering. The sample was annealed at 700°C in a nitrogen atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses were performed to investigate the cristallinity and surface morphology of the ZnO film. According to the analysis results the crystallinity of a ZnO thin film deposited by rf magnetron sputtering is substantially improved by using a Zn buffer layer. The highest ZnO film quality is obtained with a 110nm thick Zn buffer layer. The surface roughness of the ZnO thin film increases as the Zn buffer layer thickness increases.

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