Structure and Optical Properties of dc Reactive Magnetron Sputtered Zinc Oxide Films

Abstract

Zinc oxide films were deposited on glass substrates in argon and oxygen atmosphere by dc reactive magnetron sputtering using a metallic zinc target. The influence of oxygen pressure and substrate temperature on the structure and optical properties of the films were systematically investigated and optimised the deposition parameters to prepare single phase zinc oxide films with preferred (002) orientation. At an optimum oxygen pressure of 1x10-3 mbar and substrate temperature of 663 K, the films exhibited an optical transmittance of 83% with a band gap of 3.28 eV.