Heteroepitaxy of zinc oxide thin films, considering non-epitaxial preferential orientation

Structural and electrical properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide films prepared by sol–gel process

“…If the surface free energy of a plane is lower than that of other planes, the films grow with the plane of lower surface free energy. 16 In the case of ZnO crystal, the surface energy density of the (0 0 2) orientation is the lowest. 17 Grains with lower surface energy will become larger as the film grows.…”

Texture development of non-epitaxial polycrystalline ZnO films

“…However, the results shown in the previous section were obtained during sputtering on non-epitaxial substrates such as amorphous SiO 2 . After Goto et al [10,12], PO without the influence of epitaxial growth is sometimes referred to ''self-texture,'' which means a textured structure caused by the film itself without the influence of the substrate. Minimization of surface energy is the most frequently referred to term to explain the origin of selftexture.…”

Pulsed laser deposition of epitaxial Al-doped ZnO film on sapphire with GaN buffer layer

“…sputtering [12,13], and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [14,15]. In this paper, we have attempted to grow high quality epitaxial films of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) on sapphire (0001) by introducing a GaN buffer layer.…”