Study on oxygen source and its effect on film properties of ZnO deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

The structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited at various oxygen partial pressure and rf-power of rf magnetron sputtering were investigated. The sputtered ZnO films are mainly formed with the oxygen which was supplied from a sputtering gas; therefore the film stoichiometry can be controlled by the oxygen partial pressure and rf-power. From photoluminescence study, it was found that the wide emission band above 550 nm was observed due to an increase of oxygen vacancies when the ZnO film changed from O-rich to Zn-rich. The chemical stoichiometry of the film will help us to understand the formation mechanism of intrinsic defects in ZnO films.     

Surface characterization of TiO2 thin films obtained by high-energy reactive magnetron sputtering

This paper presents the results of surface characterization of TiO₂ thin films deposited on different substrates by the use of high-energy reactive magnetron sputtering. Structural investigations carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) have shown a strong influence of both the substrate type, and its placement in the deposition chamber (relative to the sputtering target), on the structural properties of the films. In all cases, there is evidence for pseudoepitaxial growth. XRD examination showed existence of TiO₂-rutile phase with preferred (1 1 0) orientation and AFM measurements revealed nanocrystalline structure directly after deposition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that the TiO₂ films have stoichiometric composition.     

Growth and characteristics of reactive pulsed laser deposited molybdenum trioxide thin films

Molybdenum trioxide thin films were prepared by reactive pulsed laser deposition on Corning 7059 glass substrates. The influence of oxygen partial pressure and deposition temperature on the structure, surface morphology and optical properties of these films was studied to understand the growth mechanism of MoO₃ thin films. The films formed at 473 K in an oxygen partial pressure of 100 mTorr exhibited predominantly a (0k0) orientation, corresponding to an orthorhombic layered structure of α-MoO₃. The evaluated optical band gap of the films was 3.24 eV. The crystallite size increased with increase of deposition temperature. The films formed at an oxygen partial pressure of pO₂=100 mTorr and at a deposition temperature greater than 700 K exhibited both (0k0) and (0kl) orientations, representing α-β mixed phases of MoO₃. The films formed at an oxygen partial pressure less than 100 mTorr were found to be sub-stoichiometric with α-β mixed phases. The investigation revealed the growth of polycrystalline and single-phase orthorhombic-layered-structure α-MoO₃ thin films with composition nearly approaching the nominal stoichiometry at moderate substrate temperatures in an oxygen partial pressure of 100 mTorr. Received: 9 April 2001 / Accepted: 6 August 2001 / Published online: 17 October 2001     

On the phase formation of titanium oxide thin films deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering: influence of oxygen partial pressure and nitrogen doping

This work describes about the control on phase formation in titanium oxide thin films deposited by reactive dc magnetron sputtering. Various phases of titanium oxide thin films were deposited by controlling the oxygen partial pressure during the sputtering process. By adding nitrogen gas to sputter gas mixture of oxygen and argon, the oxygen partial pressure was decreased further below the usual critical value, below and above which the sputtering yields metallic and oxide films, respectively. Furthermore, nitrogen addition eliminated the typical hysteretic behaviour between the flow rate and oxygen partial pressure, and significantly influenced the sputter rate. On increasing the oxygen partial pressure, the ratio between anatase and rutile fraction and grain size increases. The fracture cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy together with the complementary information from X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman investigations revealed the evolution and spatial distribution of the anatase and rutile phases. Both the energy delivered to the growing film and oxygen vacancy concentrations are correlated with the formation of various phases upon varying the oxygen partial pressure.     

氧分压对磁控溅射制备ZnO薄膜的结构及光学特性的影响

采用射频反应磁控溅射法在玻璃衬底上成功制备出具有c轴高择优取向的ZnO薄膜,利用X射线衍射及紫外-可见吸收和透射光谱研究了氧分压变化对ZnO薄膜的微观结构及光吸收特性的影响。结果表明,当工作气压恒定时,用射频反应磁控溅射制备的ZnO薄膜的生长行为主要取决于成膜空间中氧的密度,合适的氧分压能够提高ZnO薄膜的结晶质量;薄膜在可见光区的平均透过率达到90%以上,且随着氧分压的增大,薄膜的光学带隙发生了一定程度的变化。采用量子限域模型对薄膜的光学带隙作了相应的理论计算,计算结果与对样品吸收谱所作的拟合结果符合较好,二者的变化趋势完全一致,表明ZnO纳米晶粒较小时,薄膜光学带隙的变化与量子限域效应有很大关系。     

Effect of deposition power and pressure on rate deposition and resistivity of titanium thin films grown by DC magnetron sputtering

ABSTRACT

Based on magnetron sputtering deposition technology, titanium (Ti) thin films are deposited on silicon (Si) substrate using different preparation conditions such as sputtering power and pressure. The influence of altering these conditions on deposition rate and microstructure is studied. The results show that sputtering power significantly affects the rate of deposition and the resistivity. The deposition rate of the Ti thin film increases when the resistivity decreases under sputtering powers of 150–225?W with a pressure of 0.8?Pa and Argon (Ar) flux of 80 sccm. As sputtering power was increased further (from 225 to 250?W), the deposition rate reduced and the resistivity augmented. Pressure also has influence on the deposition rate and resistivity – when pressure increases from 0.6 to 0.8?Pa, the deposition rate escalates while the resistivity reduces; when the pressure is raised from 0.8 to 1.0?Pa with Ar flux of 100 sccm, the deposition rate decreases and resistivity increases. The surface chemical compositions and the structures of the Ti film were studied by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Observing the cross-section of the thin-film samples produced by scanning electron microscope (SEM) reveals the influence of the preparation conditions used on the microstructure and confirms the influence of sputtering power and pressure on the resistivity.     

Comparison of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin films deposited on different preferred oriented Mo back contact by RF sputtering from a quaternary target

The Cu(In, Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) thin films were deposited on bare glass and DC sputtered preferential oriented Mo-coated glass by RF sputtering from a single quaternary target. The structural and morphological properties of the films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Preferred orientation of the Mo back contact was tuned between (110) and (211) plane by controlling the thickness. All the deposited CIGS thin films show (112) preferred oriented chalcopyrite structures. The films prepared on Mo-coated glass show higher quality crystallinity, better stoichiometry composition and more smooth surface morphology. Especially, the film on (211) oriented Mo-coated glass with the best integrated performance is expected to be a candidate absorber for high-efficiency CIGS solar cell device.     

Study of the effect of the oxygen partial pressure on the properties of rf reactive magnetron sputtered tin-doped indium oxide films

The influence of the oxygen partial pressure on the properties of indium tin oxide films deposited by rf reactive magnetron sputtering has been studied. The oxygen partial pressure was varied from 3.2 × 10⁻⁴ to 1.0 × 10⁻³ mbar. It has been found that the 4 × 10⁻⁴ mbar of oxygen partial pressure is a critical point. When the oxygen partial pressure is lower than 4 × 10⁻⁴ mbar, the deposition rate of the films is high; the films have low transmittance and electrical resistivity; the X-ray diffraction shows that the films have a random orientation and the images of the scanning electron microscopy show that the films surface are smooth without structure. When the pressure is higher than 4 × 10⁻⁴ mbar, the deposition rate is low and does not change as the oxygen partial pressure is further increased; the transmittance and the electrical resistivity are both high; the films show the preferred orientation along the (440) direction; the films surface show a clear structure and as the pressure is increased further, the films become porous. Considering both the factor of transmittance and resistivity, the optimum oxygen partial pressure will be 3.6 × 10⁻⁴ mbar. The films prepared at this pressure have 80% transmittance and 9 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm resistivity.     

Role of growth temperature and oxygen partial pressure on the structural and electrical properties of pulsed laser deposited La1−xSrxnO3−δ thin films

The paper presents the fabrication and characterization of La_0.65Sr_0.35MnO_3−δ (LSMO) polycrystalline thin films deposited directly on Si (1 0 0) substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. Various deposition parameters like substrate temperature and oxygen partial pressure have been varied systematically to obtain stoichiometric, crack-free films with smooth surface morphology having nearly monodisperse grain size distribution. The substrate temperature variation from 600 to 800 °C had profound effects on the microstructure and topography of the deposited film, with optimum result being obtained at 700 °C. The variation of partial pressure of oxygen controls the deposition kinetics as well as the stoichiometry of the film in terms of oxygen vacancy, which influences the magnetic and electrical transport properties of the manganate films. The microstructure and crystallinity of the deposited films have been studied using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. A correlation between the oxygen stoichiometry and micro-structural and transport properties of the deposited films has been obtained.     

射频磁控溅射法制备ZnO薄膜的发光特性

利用射频磁控溅射法在硅衬底上制备出具有（002）择优取向的氧化锌薄膜，用波长为300nm的光激发，观察到在446nm处有一强的光致发光峰，它来自于氧空位浅施主能级上的电子到价带上的跃迁。并讨论了发光峰与氧压的关系以及退火对它的影响，且给出了解释。     

The characterization of fluorocarbon films on NiTi alloy by magnetron sputtering

Fluorocarbon films were deposited on nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloy substrate by radio-frequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) magnetron sputtering using a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) target. The deposition parameters of fluorocarbon films including the RF power, the working gas pressure and Ar flow rate were systematically studied. The structure of the deposited films was studied by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The surface morphology of the deposited films was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The mechanical properties of the deposited films were characterized by a nanoindenter. C-Fx and C-C units were found in the deposited fluorocarbon films, which corresponded to the results of XPS. The surface roughness of the fluorocarbon film was 7.418 nm (Ra).     

Ion-beam sputtering deposition of CsI thin films

Stoichiometric CsI thin films were deposited by Ar ion-beam sputtering of a CsI target at room temperature. The sputtered 100-nm thick CsI films obtained were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements. As it was expected, the chemical, morphological, crystalline and photo-emissive properties of CsI films obtained depended on the deposition parameters. Comparison with results obtained for evaporated CsI films indicated that surface morphology, i.e., the effective photo-emissive surface area, is one of the important parameters in influencing the QE . PACS 81.15.-z; 79.60.Dp; 68.37.Ps     

The influence of oxygen on the optical properties of RF-sputtered zinc oxide thin films

In this article, we investigate the effects of oxygen partial pressure in the deposition chamber on the optical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films; in particular, we examine the variation of the refractive index with oxygen flux.ZnO thin films were deposited by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). We have found a preferential c-axis growth of ZnO films, with slightly variable deposition rates from 2.6 to 3.8 Å/s. Conversely, the refractive index exhibits, from ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (IR), a considerable and almost linear variation when the oxygen flux value in the deposition chamber varies from 0 to 10 sccm.     

Effects of sputtering pressure on the field emission properties of N-doped SrTiO3 thin films coated on Si tip arrays

The influence of sputtering pressure on the electron emission properties of Si tips coated with N-doped SrTiO₃ ultrathin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the N-doped SrTiO₃ films deposited at different pressures remain the perovskite structure. However, the threshold electric field of electron emission decreased markedly when the sputtering pressure is increased, and reached a minimum value of 17.37 V/μm while deposited at 1.6 Pa. The decrease in the threshold field is attributed to the narrowed band gap and the lowered surface energy of SrTiO₃ thin films with nitrogen doped, as confirmed using spectroscopic ellipsometry and water contact angle measurement. Furthermore, it is revealed using XPS that such sputtering pressure dependence is accompanied with the change of nitrogen bonding state in the films, which changes from poorly screened γ-N₂ state to atomic β-N state when the sputtering pressure is increased. A mechanism of bonding and band-forming was proposed for the enhanced electron emission with nitrogen incorporation in the sputtered SrTiO₃ films.     

离子束反应溅射沉积SiO2薄膜的光学特性

 主要研究采用离子束反应溅射（RIBS）制备SiO2薄膜的折射率、消光系数、化学计量比与氧气在氩氧混合工作气体中含量及其沉积速率的关系。研究结果表明：RIBS制备的SiO2薄膜在0.63 μm处折射率n= 1.48,消光系数小于10-5;随着沉积速率的增加,薄膜的折射率和消光系数随之变大,当沉积速率超过0.3 nm/s,即使是在纯氧环境溅射,折射率值也不低于1.5;通过对红外透射光谱的主吸收峰位置研究得到沉积的SiO2薄膜为缺氧型,化学计量比不超过1.8,且红外吸收峰位置和SiO2折射率存在对应关系,因此在不加热衬底情况下使用RIBS制备SiO2薄膜时,会限制沉积速率的提高。     

Effect of oxygen partial pressure on the structural and optical properties of ZnO film deposited by reactive sputtering

Effects of variation of the oxygen partial pressure on the structural and optical properties of zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films prepared by reactive radio-frequency sputtering were investigated. Measurements by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicated that the crystallinity and the surface morphology were sensitive to the oxygen partial pressure. The interfacial and optical properties of the targeted films were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) characterization. Based on Tauc-Lorentz (TL) model, the optical constants of ZnO films were tentatively extracted in the photon energy ranging from 1.5 to 6.0 eV. Analyses by XRD and SE revealed that the oxygen partial pressure had effect on the orientation of the ZnO films, the surface morphology, the packing density, and the interfacial layers. And the relationship between crystallinity and interfacial layer, as well as the relationship between surface roughness and packing density was discussed. All these had a significant impact on the optical properties illustrated by SE analysis.     

氧分压对PLD制备ZnO薄膜结构和发光性质的影响

采用脉冲激光沉积(PLD)技术,在Si(100)衬底上制备出高度c轴取向的ZnO薄膜。通过X射线衍射(XRD)谱,扫描电镜(SEM)和室温光致发光(PL)光谱的测量,研究了生长气氛压强的改变对薄膜结构和光致发光的影响。实验结果表明,当氧压从10Pa升高到100Pa时ZnO(002)衍射峰的半峰全宽(FWHM)增大。可以认为这是由于较高的氧压下,到达衬底表面的离子动能减小。这样部分离子没有足够的能量迁移到生长较快的(002)面,c轴取向变差,导致(002)衍射峰的强度降低,半峰全宽增大。随着氧压增大,紫外发光强度增强。这可能是氧压变大,薄膜的化学配比升高,说明化学配比对UV发光的影响要大于薄膜微结构的影响。改变氧气压强对薄膜的表面形貌也有较大的影响。     

立方氮化硼薄膜的生长特性与粘附性研究

用X射线衍射技术、红外吸收光谱、扫描电子显微镜、X射线光电子能谱对热丝辅助射频等离子体化学汽相沉积法制备的立方氮化硼(c-BN)薄膜的生长特性和粘附性进行了研究.改变生长条件，在Si、不锈钢和Ni衬底上沉积c-BN薄膜，进而研究了c-BN薄膜的质量和生长条件与衬底之间的关系.实验发现，Ni衬底上生长的薄膜c-BN含量较高，且粘附性好.当Si衬底上溅射一层Ni过渡层，再生长c-BN薄膜，薄膜中c-BN含量提高，与Si衬底的粘附性也显著增强. 关键词：     

A comparative study of the microstructures and optical properties of Cu- and Ag-doped ZnO thin films

Cu- and Ag-doped ZnO films were deposited by direct current co-reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The microstructure, the chemical states of the oxygen, zinc, copper and silver and the optical properties in doped ZnO films were investigated by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. XRD analysis revealed that both of Cu- and Ag-doped ZnO films consist of single phase ZnO with zincite structure while the doping elements had an evident effect on the (0 0 2) preferential orientation. The XPS spectra showed that the chemical states of oxygen were different in Cu- and Ag-doped ZnO thin films, which may lead to the shift of the band gap as can be observed in the transmittance and absorption spectra. Meanwhile, the widths of band tails of ZnO films became larger after Cu and Ag doping.     

Effect of ambient gas on structural and optical properties of titanium oxynitride films

Titanium oxynitride films have been deposited on glass substrates by reactive RF magnetron sputtering of titanium target. The influence of oxygen partial pressure in N₂ + Ar and N₂ + He mixtures was examined on structural and optical properties of titanium oxynitride films. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, EDS, surface profilometer, AFM and contact angle measurement system. With increase in oxygen partial pressure, the grain size decreases from ∼70 nm to ∼50 nm in N₂ + Ar mixture, while from ∼60 nm to ∼37 nm in N₂ + He mixture. The thickness calculated from optical transmission data and surface profilometer is in good agreement with each other. The deposited samples are hydrophobic by nature and the contact angle was found to decrease with increase in oxygen partial pressure. Samples prepared in oxygen partial pressure ≥5.5% show transmittance of about 97% in the visible region of the spectrum in both N₂ + Ar and N₂ + He mixtures. The atomic mass of the sputtering gas (Ar and He) significantly affects the primary crystallite size, orientation as well as band gap. We were able to relate the better crystallisation of titanium atoms with low partial pressure of oxygen when films are deposited in helium instead of argon due to Penning ionization.