Control of properties and structure of ZnO thin films by a wide variation of oxygenpressure during reactive magnetron deposition and by post-deposition annealing

Due to recent progress in crystal growth and unique optical and electrical properties ZnO becomes a prospective material for use in optoelectronic devices. ZnO thin films have been prepared at unheated glass substrates by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The oxygen fraction in Ar + O2 gas mixture was varied from 0 to approximately 83%. The films have been characterized by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The dielectric function of ZnO layers was parameterized using Drude-Lorentz oscillator. As shown by SE, the dielectric functions of the films prepared at low oxygen fraction are characteristic for cermet materials (mixture of oxide and metal particles). XRD confirms the presence of both ZnO and metallic Zn phases in these films. The layers produced at high oxygen fractions (above 60%) are insulating and their dielectric functions can be reasonably described by Lorentz oscillator alone. Importantly, that the latter films are polycrystalline with pronounced (002) type texture even at a thickness of only 50 nm. The XRD results point to a high mechanical stress in these films that can be related to the bombardment by negative oxygen ions during the film growth.
ZnO films prepared at medium oxygen fraction of 48% were annealed in vacuum at about 340 °C for 1.5 hour with in situ control of optical properties by SE and resistivity by two point probe measurement. The influence of the structural ordering during annealing on the refractive index is higher than the free electron density variation. An enhancement of the film resistivity at the final annealing stage (last 40 min) with concomitant decrease of the free electron concentration could be an indication of the acceptor-like defect formation.