Effects of a seed layer on the structural properties of RF-sputtered ZnO thin films

• Published in: Journal of the Korean Physical Society Vol. 68; no. 1; pp. 104 - 108
• Main Authors: Ur, Soon-Chul, Yi, Seung-Hwan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Physical Society 2016; 한국물리학회
• Subjects: Mathematical and Computational Physics; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Theoretical; 물리학; Residual stress manipulation; Precursor concentration; Sol-gel solution; RF-sputtered ZnO film; Residual stress
• ISSN: 0374-4884; 1976-8524
• DOI: 10.3938/jkps.68.104

Radio-frequency (RF) sputtered deposition combined with sol-gel spin coating has been applied to achieve a high-quality, c -axis-oriented ZnO film. The deposited ZnO films show only a c -axis-oriented ZnO (002) peak. The morphology, structure, and residual stress of the deposited ZnO films are found to depend strongly on the concentration of the precursor. As the concentration of the precursor is increased from 0.1-M to 0.6-M, the residual stress of the ZnO films changes from a compressive (−415 MPa) to a mild tensile (+90 MPa) mode. The deposited ZnO film interestingly shows facets when the concentration of the precursor is 0.6-M. We suggest that the residual stress in sputter-deposited ZnO films can be controlled by using the precursor concentration. This technique is believed to have been used for the first time, and can be applied to control the uniformity during micro speaker fabrication.