Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.453, 138-142, 2016
The c-axis orientation ZnO by ICP enhanced HiPIMS at ambient temperature
In this paper, a facile method to prepare a high c-axis orientation ZnO film is reported. We combine a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in purpose of improving the reaction activity of Zn species sputtered from HiPIMS with dissociated oxygen, and gaining a high quality ZnO. The diagnostic of optical emission spectroscope (OES), which reveals the Zn and atomic oxygen concentrations in plasma, is evident the increasing ionization of Zn and the dissociation of 02 by ICP. After characterizing films grown with and without ICP, likely crystal through x-ray diffraction (XRD), component by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and morphology by atomic force microscope (AFM), we conclude that ICP assistance is crucial for the ZnO preferentially growth in (002) facet. With ICP assistance ZnO is grown in a big crystal size with a good quality. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.