Chapter 4 - Pulsed Laser Deposition of Zinc Oxide (ZnO)

Abstract

This chapter discusses the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of zinc oxide (ZnO). ZnO exhibits an interesting combination of multifunctional properties, including optical, semiconducting, piezoelectric, electrooptic, and optoelectronic properties, and in thin film form, ZnO films find immense applications in many electronic devices including sensors, actuators, transducers, and high frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. In comparison to other thin film deposition techniques, the turnaround time is much faster with the pulsed laser deposition technique from film deposition for a specific material composition, to the optimization of the properties desired for device applications. Suitable modifications in the deposition techniques have enabled thin film materials scientists to meet the challenges required for the engineering of the ZnO material with tailored properties by incorporating various dopants and alloying with other oxide materials successfully. Present understanding of ZnO thin film processing by PLD has increased to a high level and researchers have become more aware of the potential offered by ZnO for optoelectronic device applications. Deposition of high quality epitaxial films of doped and undoped ZnO and fabrication of lattice matched super lattice structures has been achieved, however, there is still room for improvement for reducing the processing temperatures and for establishing reproducible methods for achieving p-type doping in ZnO.