Growth of (0001) ZnO Thin Films on Sapphire

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing reactive rf sputtering, we have grown (0001) oriented ZnO films in situ on heated c-axis sapphire substrates, that are promising, particularly in terms of surface roughness, as buffer layers for the subsequent epitaxial growth of III-V nitride films. We compare the effects of on-axis and off-axis sputter geometries on the film epitaxy and smoothness. We also examined the effect of substrate temperature on the growth and smoothness and quality of the film. X-ray diffraction was used to verify the hexagonal ZnO phase, its c-axis orientation and, qualitatively, the degree of its epitaxy. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the ZnO growth morphology and roughness. Our best films, obtained by off-axis sputter deposition, have a surface roughness of less than 1 nm.