Characteristics of ZnO thin films fabricated by shock-consolidated ZnO target

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were fabricated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at two substrate temperatures, room temperature (RT) and 400 °C using a shock-consolidated ZnO target with relative density of 99%. The root mean square (RMS) roughness, transmittance, energy band gap, and surface morphology of the shock-consolidated ZnO thin films were investigated and compared to those of conventional ZnO thin films fabricated using a commercial sintered ZnO target with relative density of 95.7%; it was found that the RMS roughness and deposition rate were larger for the former than for the latter. Morphology, crystallinity and band gap of the shock-consolidated ZnO thin film exhibited almost the same properties as those of commercial sintered ZnO thin film under the same deposition condition.