Optical Properties and Zinc Nitride Thin Films Prepared Using Magnetron Reactive Sputtering

Abstract

Zinc nitride films were deposited by ion sources-assisted magnetron sputtering with the use of Zn target (99.99% purity) on 7059 glass substrates. The films were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDS, the results of which show that the polycrystalline zinc nitride thin film can be grown on the glass substrates, the EDS spectrum confirmed the chemical composition of the films and the SEM images revealed that the zinc nitride thin films have a dense structure. Ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectrophotometer was used to study the transmittance behaviors of zinc nitride thin films, which calculated the optical band gap by Davis Mott model. The results of the fluorescence emission spectra show the zinc nitride would be a direct band gap semiconductor material.