Optical Properties of ZnO Films Fabricated by Atomic Layer Deposition

: The ZnO films were deposited by atomic layer deposition method using water and diethylzinc as precursors at different temperatures (110 and 190 degrees C). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and photoluminescence spectra (PL) were used to investigate the elemental composition and optical properties of ZnO films. Our results showed that with the increasing of the growth temperature, the amount of -OH groups in the ZnO film decreased, which indicated that the reactions went to completion at high processing temperatures. The PL spectra of the ZnO film deposited at 110 degrees C exhibited two emission bands, one in the UV region and the other in the visible region. When the deposition temperature increased to 190 degrees C, the emission bands in the visible region disappeared, which indicated that the deep level defect in ZnO became less. The carrier mobility improved from 25 to 32 cm2 x (V x S)(-1) with the reduction of the defects in the ZnO film. The refractive index of the ZnO films decreased from 2.33 to 1.9 in the 375-800 nm region. The optical absorption edge (E(g)) values of the ZnO films deposited at different temperature were about 3.27 eV.