Deposition and properties of ZnSiO3-containing zinc oxide thin films reactively sputtered at room temperature

Nabil Rochdi (1) , Abdelaziz El Boujlaidi (1) , Ahmad Afkir (1) , Enrique Vega (2, 3) , Saïd Yagoubi (4) , Younes El Gabbas (1)

1 IMED-Lab - Laboratoire des Matériaux Innovants, Energie et Développement Durable [Marrakech]
2 LAPA - UMR 3685 - Laboratoire Archéomatériaux et Prévision de l'Altération
3 IRAMAT-LAPA - IRAMAT - Laboratoire Archéomatériaux et Prévision de l'Altération
4 LEEL - UMR 3685 - Laboratoire d'Etudes des Eléments Légers

Zinc oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates using reactive radio-frequency sputtering at room temperature over a range of radio-frequency powers (from 100 to 250 W). The morphological, structural and optical properties of the deposited thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction, optical transmission measurements, scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence measurements. All the as-grown thin films consist of hexagonal ZnO, and a crystalline ZnSiO3 phase for several radio-frequency powers. The post-annealing in air at 550 °C results in the deterioration of the ZnSiO3 phase and an improvement in the ZnO crystallinity of the samples, with a crystallite size ranging from 20 to 30 nm. The clustering of the post-annealed sample is promoted by a critical amount of ZnSiO3 in the as-grown samples. Optical transmission and photoluminescence analyses revealed the bandgap and the energy transitions in the deposited ZnO. As-grown thin films exhibit a direct bandgap of 3.29 eV. Crystalline ZnSiO3 was found to enable a direct transition with an energy of 2.87 eV at room temperature.

Domains: Material chemistry

Nabil Rochdi, Abdelaziz El Boujlaidi, Ahmad Afkir, Enrique Vega, Saïd Yagoubi, et al.. Deposition and properties of ZnSiO3-containing zinc oxide thin films reactively sputtered at room temperature. Thin Solid Films, 2020, 709, pp.138218. ⟨10.1016/j.tsf.2020.138218⟩. ⟨cea-03748607⟩