Synthesis of ZnO:Zr Nanostructure Thin Films by RF Plasma Sputtering

We examined thin films of zinc oxide nanostructure synthesized by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering in this study. The ZnO films were deposited with different doping weight ratios (0 %, 2%, 4% and 6%) of zirconium (Zr) on glass and silicon substrates. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that ZnO thin films exhibit a hexagonal crystal structure of wurtzite with polycrystalline grains oriented in the direction of (0 0 2). With a clean surface, AFM and SEM images display a uniform microstructure. Some important structural parameters of the films were calculated (lattice parameters of the hexagonal cell, size of the crystallite). The results showed that the nanoscale grain size of all thin films is about 60 nm. The size of the crystallite ranged from 21 to 41 nm and, with increasing doping concentration, it was usually found to increase. Optical experiments have shown that thin films of the ZnO nanostructure have a direct energy gap. The microstructural and optical characteristics dependence on the various doping concentrations of zirconium in ZnO nanostructure thin films is discussed.