Growth Properties of Sputtered ZnO Thin Films Affected by Oxygen Partial Pressure Ratio

ZnO thin films were grown on a glass by RF sputtering system with RF power 100W and oxygen partial pressure of . Elliptic constants were measured by using a phase modulated spectroscopic ellipsometer and analyzed with the Tauc-Lorentz dispersion formula and best fit method in the range of 1.5 to 3.8eV. Also, scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used for the analysis of surface crystallization condition. From elliptic constants spectra, optical constants, thickness and roughness of ZnO films were evaluated. Total thickness of ZnO films obtained by ellipsometry showed good agreement with SEM data. It was found that the grain size of the films were getting smaller with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Band-gap of ZnO films increase with the oxygen partial pressure. These findings clearly indicate that optical properties of ZnO films are strongly dependent on the oxygen partial pressure. It could be explained that increasing the oxygen partial pressure induced high crystalline imperfection in the ZnO films.