Optical and Surface Properties of Nanostructured ZnO Semiconductor Thin Films Synthesized by RF Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

In this research, ZnO thin films were deposited on glass microscope slides in three separate experiments with RF input powers of 50 W, 100 W and 125 W by means of RF magnetron sputtering technique. Each deposition process was conducted for 30 minutes. Spectroscopic reflectometer, UV-VIS spectrophotometer and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to examine the effect of sputtering power on the optical and surface properties of the produced thin films. The level of reflectivity and transparency, refractive index and band gap energy values as well as surface homogeneity and roughness were observed to rely on the RF input power. The optical band gap energy values were about 3.83-3.87 eV. The produced highly transparent ZnO thin films can be used in various optoelectronic devices and future transparent conductive electrode implementations.