Effects of substrate temperature on the growth of CuO nano/micro rods by ion beam sputter deposition

Abstract

CuO nano/micro rods were deposited on Si substrates by ion beam sputter deposition at substrate temperatures 300 °C, 350 °C, 400 °C and 450 °C. The effects of changing substrate temperature on the structural properties and surface morphology of the deposited CuO nano/micro rods were studied. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy micrographs showed that at substrate temperature of 300 °C and 350 °C, tiny nanoparticles were observed on the surface of CuO thin films and at substrate temperature of 400 °C and 450 °C, CuO nano/micro rods of lengths (100 nm to 1 μm) and diameters (25 nm to 30 nm) observed in a periodic arrangement. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that all the diffraction peaks of the samples were single-crystalline CuO corresponded to () orientation. From the crystallographic analysis using XRD data, crystallite sizes of the samples increased (18 to 32 nm) with the increase of substrate temperature. The Micro-Raman spectroscopy investigation shows that all the Raman peaks observed were phonon modes of CuO and as the substrate temperature increased, the intensities of the Rama peaks increased. Hence, by changing substrate temperatures, it is possible to deposit high quality CuO nano/micro thin films with tunable structures, morphologies and sizes for different optoelectronic applications through ion beam sputter deposition.