The Effect of Sputtering Time and Substrate Type on the Structure of Zinc Nanoparticles Prepared by the DC Sputtering Technique

Abstract

 The samples have a hexagonal wurtzite structure.  All the samples showed a uniform distribution of granular surface shape morphology.  Zn thin film thicknesses were increased as the sputtering time increased for all substrates.  The best result was the deposition of zinc nanoparticles on Si (p -type) at 1 min, where the particle size was at the peak of 7 nm.Zn thin films have been successfully deposited on two different substrates, FTO and p-type Si (111), with thickness (112, 186) nm at (1 and 8) min, respectively, via DC sputtering technique in this work. Structural properties of the prepared thin films were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM ). XRD results showed that the samples have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. From the results of FESEM images, all the samples showed a uniform distribution of granular surface shape morphology.The grain sizes of the Zn thin films were estimated based on measured X-ray diffraction patterns. Zn thin film thicknesses were increased as the sputtering time increased for all substrates. The best result was the deposition of zinc nanoparticles on Si (p-type) at 1 min, where the particle size was at the peak of 7 nm.