Low-temperature growth of polycrystalline Ge thin film on glass by in situ deposition and ex situ solid-phase crystallization for photovoltaic applications

Poly-crystalline germanium (poly-Ge) thin films have potential for lowering the manufacturing cost of photovoltaic devices especially in tandem solar cells, but high crystalline quality would be required. This work investigates the crystallinity of sputtered Ge thin films on glass prepared by in situ growth and ex situ solid-phase crystallization (SPC). Structural properties of the films were characterized by Raman, X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet-visible reflectance measurements. The results show the transition temperature from amorphous to polycrystalline is between 255 °C and 280 °C for in situ grown poly-Ge films, whereas the transition temperature is between 400 °C and 500 °C for films produced by SPC for a 20 h annealing time. The in situ growth in situ crystallized poly-Ge films at 450 °C exhibit significantly better crystalline quality than those formed by solid-phase crystallization at 600 °C. High crystalline quality at low substrate temperature obtained in this work suggests the poly-Ge films could be promising for use in thin film solar cells on glass.     

Properties of Eu-doped zinc oxide thin films grown on glass substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

Eu-doped ZnO (EZO) thin films were prepared on glass substrates at various growth temperatures by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The properties of deposited thin films showed a significant dependence on the growth temperature. The preferential growth orientation of all the thin films was occurred along the ZnO (002) plane. The maximum crystallite size and the minimum average transmittance in the wavelength range of 450–1100 nm were observed for the EZO thin film deposited at 25 °C. A red shift of the optical band gap was observed in the growth temperature range of 25–300 °C. The highest figure of merit, an index for evaluating the performance of transparent conducting thin films, was obtained at 200 °C of growth temperature. These results indicated that the high-quality EZO film was obtained at a growth temperature of 200 °C.     

Crystal orientation control of polycrystalline TiN thin films using ZnO under layers deposited by magnetron sputtering

The effect of ZnO under layers on crystal growth of TiN thin films was investigated. TiN single layers and double-layered ZnO/TiN thin films were deposited on soda-lime-silicate glass substrates by magnetron sputtering. XRD analysis indicated that TiN single layers exhibited {1 1 1} preferred orientation on glass substrates; on the other hand, the TiN thin films with {1 0 0} preferred orientation were obtained using ZnO under layers and crystallized better than the TiN single layers. This crystal orientation change of TiN thin films should come from heteroepitaxial-like growth because the TiN{1 0 0} and ZnO{0 0 1} crystal lattice planes have similar atomic arrangements. Besides, the possible mismatch between TiN and ZnO atomic arrangements was estimated to be 7.8%. Furthermore, the resistivity and optical absorbance of TiN thin films decreased when they were deposited on ZnO under layers. It can be considered that electrical and optical properties should be improved due to the well-crystallization of TiN thin films using ZnO under layers.     

Vanadium oxide thin films produced by magnetron sputtering from a V2O5 target at room temperature

Vanadium oxide thin films were grown by RF magnetron sputtering from a V₂O₅ target at room temperature, an alternative route of production of vanadium oxide thin films for infrared detector applications. The films were deposited on glass substrates, in an argon–oxygen atmosphere with an oxygen partial pressure from nominal 0% to 20% of the total pressure.X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS) analyses showed that the films were a mixture of several vanadium oxides (V₂O₅, VO₂, V₅O₉ and V₂O₃), which resulted in different colors, from yellow to black, depending on composition. The electrical resistivity varied from 1 mΩ cm to more than 500 Ω cm and the thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR), varied from −0.02 to −2.51% K⁻¹.Computational thermodynamics was used to simulate the phase diagram of the vanadium–oxygen system. Even if plasma processes are far from equilibrium, this diagram provides the range of oxygen pressures that lead to the growth of different vanadium oxide phases. These conditions were used in the present work.     

Structural,luminescent, and morphological properties of Eu3+-doped NaTaO3 thin films grown by magnetron sputtering

Radio-frequency (RF)-sputtered Eu³⁺-doped NaTaO₃ thin films were grown at different deposition temperatures. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that all thin films contained two mixed phases of NaTaO₃ and Na₂Ta₈O₂₁. The photoluminescence spectra of the thin films consisted of a strong orange emission (592 nm) and two weak red bands (616 nm and 689 nm), suggesting that more Eu³⁺ ions in the NaTaO₃ host crystal were located at inversion symmetry sites. The maximum intensities of all emission peaks were achieved for the sample grown at 100 °C, in which the gravel-shaped crystallites evolved with a band gap energy of 4.61 eV, chromaticity coordinates of (0.554, 0.434), and average transmittance of 92.4%. These results indicate that the photoluminescence intensity, band gap energy, and color tunability can be achieved for RF-sputtered Eu³⁺-doped NaTaO₃ thin films by varying the growth temperature.     

Cu-In-O composite thin films deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering

Cu-In-O composite thin films were deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV/vis spectrophotometer, four-probe measurement and Seebeck effect measurement, etc. The samples contain Cu, In and O. The ratios of Cu to In and O to In increase with increase in O₂ flow rates. The ratio of Cu to In is over 1 and this suggests that Cu is in excess. The obtained Cu-In-O thin films are very possibly made of rhombohedral In₂O₃ and monoclinic CuO. Transmittance of the films decreases with increase in O₂ flow rate. The decrease in transmittance results from increase in Cu content in the films. The optical band gap of all the samples is estimated to be 4.1-4.4 eV, which is larger than those of In₂O₃ and CuO. The sheet resistance of the films decreases with increase in O₂ flow rate. Conductivity of the films is a little low, due to the addition of Cu and the poor crystalline quality of the film. The conduction behavior of the films is similar to that of In₂O₃ and the conduction mechanism of Cu-In-O thin films is through O vacancy.     

Indium zinc oxide thin films deposited by sputtering at room temperature

The deposition of amorphous indium zinc oxide (IZO) thin films on glass substrates with n-type carrier concentrations between 10¹⁴ and 3 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ by sputtering from single targets near room temperature was investigated as a function of power and process pressure. The resistivity of the films with In/Zn of ∼0.7 could be controlled between 5 × 10⁻³ and 10⁴ Ω cm by varying the power during deposition. The corresponding electron mobilities were 4-18 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹.The surface root-mean-square roughness was <1 nm under all conditions for film thicknesses of 200 nm. Thin film transistors with 1 μm gate length were fabricated on these IZO layers, showing enhancement mode operation with good pitch-off characteristics, threshold voltage 2.5 V and a maximum transconductance of 6 mS/mm. These films look promising for transparent thin film transistor applications.     

Growth of Ni-Mn-Ga high-temperature shape memory alloy thin films by magnetron sputtering technique

Ni-Mn-Ga thin films have been fabricated by using magnetron sputtering technique under various substrate negative bias voltages. The effect of substrate negative bias voltage on the compositions and surface morphology of Ni-Mn-Ga thin films was systematically investigated by energy dispersive X-ray spectrum and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The results show that the Ni contents of the thin films increase with the increase of the substrate negative bias voltages, whereas the Mn contents and Ga contents decrease with the increase of substrate negative bias voltages. It was also found that the surface roughness and average particle size of the thin films remarkably decrease with the increase of substrate negative bias voltages. Based on the influence of bias voltages on film compositions, a Ni₅₆Mn₂₇Ga₁₇ thin film was obtained at the substrate negative bias voltage of 30 V. Further investigations indicate that the martensitic transformation start temperature of this film is up to 584 K, much higher than room temperature, and the film has a non-modulated tetragonal martensitic structure at room temperature. Transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that microstructure of the thin film exhibits an internally (1 1 1) type twinned substructure. The fabrication of Ni₅₆Mn₂₇Ga₁₇ high-temperature shape memory alloy thin film will contribute to the successful development of microactuators.     

In situ growth stresses during the phase separation of immiscible FeCu thin films

This paper addresses the in situ growth stress evolution and post-growth stress relaxation during the phase separation of immiscible Fe_0.51Cu_0.49 thin films at various in situ deposition temperatures. Each film was sputter-deposited onto a 10 nm Si₃N₄ underlayer that was grown on top of Si [0 0 1] substrate at 25 °C, 145 °C, 205 °C, 265 °C or 325 °C. The thin film stress was measured using a wafer curvature technique. The in situ growth stress increased in compression with increasing substrate temperature. The stress relaxation of the Fe_0.51Cu_0.49 was found to have a linear increase with the inverse grain size for films deposited at temperatures greater than 205 °C. The stress state was correlated to the films’ phase and morphology by X-ray diffraction, (scanning) transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy techniques.     

射频磁控溅射法制备ZnS多晶薄膜及其性质

实验采用射频磁控溅射法在玻璃衬底上沉积了ZnS多晶薄膜,研究了沉积气压、退火温度和衬底温度对ZnS薄膜质量的影响.利用X射线衍射(XRD)分析了薄膜的微结构,并计算了内应力值.通过紫外-可见光分光光度计测量了薄膜的透过谱,计算了Urbach能量和禁带宽度.利用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)观察了薄膜的表面形貌.结果表明: 衬底温度为室温时沉积的ZnS薄膜具有较大的压应力,并且内应力值随着工作气压增大而增大,在300 ℃下进行退火处理后内应力松弛,衬底温度为350 ℃时制备的ZnS薄膜内应力小,透过率高,经300 ℃退火处理后结晶质量有所提高. 关键词： ZnS薄膜 射频磁控溅射 内应力     

Synthesis and characterization of porous crystalline SiC thin films prepared by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering technique

Hexagonal SiC thin films have been deposited using radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering technique by varying the substrate temperature and other deposition conditions. Prior to deposition surface modification of the substrate Si(1 0 0) played an important role in deposition of the hexagonal SiC structure. The effect of substrate temperature during deposition on structure, composition and surface morphology of the SiC films has been analyzed using atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. X-ray diffraction in conventional θ-2θ mode and omega scan mode revealed that the deposited films were crystalline having 8H-SiC structure and crystallinity improved with increase of deposition temperature. The bonding order and Si-C composition within the films showed improvement with the increase of deposition temperature. The surface of thin films grew in the shape of globes and columns depending upon deposition temperature. The optical properties also showed improvement with increase of deposition temperature and the results obtained by ellipsometry reinforced the results of other techniques.     

化学水浴法和磁控溅射法制备硫化镉薄膜的性能研究

以氯化铵、氯化镉、氢氧化钾和硫脲为反应物采用化学水浴法制备了硫化镉薄膜,为了作对比研究,采用射频磁控溅射以硫化镉为靶材,氩气为溅射气体,制备了硫化镉薄膜。采用X射线衍射、扫描电子显微镜和紫外-可见光光谱仪分别表征了硫化镉薄膜的结构、形貌和光学吸收特性。结果表明,采用以上两种方法制备的硫化镉均具有(002)择优取向,溅射法制备的硫化镉薄膜较致密,薄膜表面较光滑,平均晶粒尺寸在20～30nm;水浴法制备的硫化镉薄膜颗粒尺寸较小,缺陷较多。除了在短波段溅射所得硫化镉薄膜的透过率略差于水浴法所得硫化镉薄膜之外,溅射法制备的硫化镉薄膜的性能整体上优于水浴法制备的薄膜。两种方法制备的硫化镉薄膜的能隙在2.3～2.5eV。     

Magnetic anisotropy properties of CoZrNb thin films deposited on PET substrate by magnetron sputtering

Soft magnetism and magnetic anisotropy properties of CoZrNb thin films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate by magnetron sputtering were investigated. As the film thickness increases, the coercivity of films decreases from 7 to 4 Oe. It exhibits an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy as the thickness of CoZrNb thin films increases. An easy axis is observed in CoZrNb films along the direction transverse to the rolling direction of the polymer web.     

The effects of substrate temperatures on the electrical properties of CaZrO3 thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

The radio frequency magnetron sputtering technology (RFMS) was employed to deposit perovskite structure orthogonal phase CaZrO₃ thin films on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates. The effects of substrate temperatures on structure and electrical properties of these films were investigated in detail. The CaZrO₃ thin films were systematically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Multi-frequency LCR meter (HP4294A) and Radiant Precision Workstation to study the phase structure, cross-section morphology, dielectric and ferroelectric properties at different substrate temperatures. The result indicates that these films can withstand 80 V DC Bias voltage and have excellent stability of frequency, voltage and temperature. The CaZrO₃ thin film prepared at 550 °C turned out to be mainly orthorhombic CaZrO₃ phase with high permittivity, low dielectric loss, extremely low leakage current (at 1 MHz, the dielectric constant is 39.42, the dielectric loss is 0.00455, the quality factor is 220 and the leakage current density is 9.11 × 10⁻⁷A/cm² at 80 V applied voltage.). This work demonstrates that higher substrate temperature can boost the formation of orthorhombic CaZrO₃ phase and the CaZrO₃ thin film prepared by RF magnetron sputtering is a very promising paraelectric material in the application of thin film capacitor.     

Characteristics of ZnO:In thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering

In-doped ZnO (ZnO:In) transparent conductive thin films were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The effect of substrate temperature on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the ZnO:In thin films was investigated. It was found that higher temperature improves the crystallinity of the films and promotes In substitution easily. ZnO:In thin films with the best crystal quality were fabricated at 300 °C, which exhibit a larger grain size of 29 nm and small tensile strain of 0.9%. The transmittance of all the films was revealed to be over 85% in the visible range independence of the substrate temperatures and the lowest resistivity of ZnO:In thin films is 2.4×10⁻³ Ω cm.     

Deposition and properties of B-N codoped p-type ZnO thin films by RF magnetron sputtering

B-N codoped p-type ZnO thin films have been realized by radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering using a mixture of argon and oxygen as sputtering gas. Types of conduction and electrical properties in codoped ZnO films were found to be dependent on oxygen partial pressure ratios in the sputtering gas mixture. When oxygen partial pressure ratio was 70%, the codoped ZnO film showed p-type conduction and had the best electrical properties. Additionally, the p-ZnO/n-Si heterojunction showed a clear p-n diode characteristic. XRD results indicate that the B-N codoped ZnO film prepared in 70% oxygen partial pressure ratio has high crystal quality with (0 0 2) preferential orientation. Meanwhile, the B-N codoped ZnO film has high optical quality and displays the stronger near band edge (NBE) emission in the temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectrum, the acceptor energy level was estimated to be located at 125 meV above the valence band.     

Microstructure of microwave dielectricthin films by RF magnetron sputtering

The article describes the microstructure and morphological properties of microwave dielectric ceramic thin films. These thin films were successfully prepared on SiO₂ (1 1 0) single-crystal substrates by radio frequency magnetron-sputtering system. The microstructure and morphology of the thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the main phase is Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Nb₂O₆,which has a tetragonal perovskite structure, a long strip pattern, and uniform crystal-grain size of about 2-3 μm in length when annealed under 1150 °C for 30 min in an O₂ atmosphere. These thin films are of excellent crystallization quality, with a polycrystalline and dense structure.     

Fabrication of Cu2O nanocrystalline thin films photosensor prepared by RF sputtering technique

Cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanocrystalline thin films were prepared on two types of substrates known as crystalline silicon and amorphous glass, by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering method. Scanning electron microscopy images confirmed that Cu₂O particles covered the entire surface of both substrates with smoothing distribution. The root mean square surface roughness for the prepared Cu₂O thin films on glass and Si (111) substrates is 4.16, and 3.36 nm, respectively. Meanwhile, X-ray diffraction results demonstrated that the two phases of Cu₂O and CuO were produced on Si (111) and glass substrates. The optical bandgap of Cu₂O thin films synthesised on glass substrate is 2.42 eV. Furthermore, the prepared Cu₂O nanocrystalline thin films have showed low reflectance value in the visible spectrum. Metal-Semiconductor-Metal photodetector based Cu₂O nanocrystalline thin films deposited onto Si (111) was fabricated using aluminium and platinum, with the current-voltage and photoresponse characteristic investigated under various applied bias voltages. The fabricated Metal-Semiconductor-Metal (M-S-M) photodetector had shown 126% sensitivity in the presence of 10 mW/cm² of 490 nm light with 1.0 V bias, displaying 90 and 100 ms response and recovery times, respectively. These findings have demonstrated the suitability of M-S-M Cu₂O photodetector as an affordable photosensor in the future.     

Fabrication of p-ZnO:ZrN thin films by RF magnetron sputtering

An attempt has been made to fabricate p-ZnO thin films from the ZrN mixed ZnO targets by RF magnetron sputtering. The targets of different ZrN concentrations (0, 1, 2, and 4?mol%) have been prepared by solid-state reaction route. The ZrN-codoped ZnO films grown on semi-insulating Si (100) substrates have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), Hall effect measurement, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer (ToF-SIMS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). XRD studies reveal that all films are oriented along (002) plane. The Hall measurements showed p-conductivity for 1 and 2?mol% ZrN-codoped ZnO films. Further, it has been found that 1?mol% ZrN-codoped film has low resistivity (7.5?×?10^?2?Ω?cm) and considerable hole concentration (8.2?×?10¹⁸?cm^?3) by optimum incorporation of nitrogen due to best codoping. The red shift in near-band-edge emission observed from PL well acknowledged the p-conduction in 1 and 2?mol% ZrN-codoped ZnO film. The incorporation of N and Zr atoms in the ZnO matrix has been confirmed by ToF-SIMS analysis. The increase in peak to valley roughness (R _pv) with increase of doping concentration has been observed from AFM analysis. ZnO homojunction has also been fabricated with the best codoped p-ZnO film and it showed typical rectification behavior of a diode. The junction parameters have also been determined for the fabricated homojunction.     

Effect of amorphous C films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on smoothing K9 glass substrate

Soft X-ray multilayer reflectors must be deposited on super-smooth surface such as super-polished silicon wafers or glasses, which are complicate, time-consuming and expensive to produce. To overcome this shortage, C films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering were considered to smooth the K9 glass substrates’ surface in the present paper. The structure of C films was systematically studied by XRD and Raman spectrum. The surface morphology and rms-roughness were obtained by AFM. Then, we calculated the impact of the C layers on the reflectivity curve of Mo/Si soft X-ray multilayer reflector around 13.5 nm. The C films exhibit typical amorphous state. With the increasing of power and thickness, the content of sp3 hybrid bonding decreases while the amount or size of well-organized graphite clusters increases. The surface rms-roughness decreases from 2.4 nm to 0.62 nm after smoothed by an 80 nm thick C layer deposited in 500 W, which is the smoothest C layer surface we have obtained. The calculation results show that the theoretical normal incidence reflectivity of Mo/Si multilayer at 13.5 nm increases from 7% to 63%.