Hydrothermal growth method for the deposition of ZnO films: Structural, chemical and optical studies

Abstract

Hydrothermal growth method was used to grow the zinc oxide (ZnO) thick films on ZnO seed layer previously deposited by RF magnetron sputtering technique. The effect of introducing of zinc acetate and chloride salts on the structure, chemical and physical properties of the obtained films was investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microcopy (AFM) were utilized to both justify the nanostructure growth of the ZnO thick films deposited by hydrothermal growth method, and to identify their morphology. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the elemental stoichiometry of the prepared ZnO thick films with low contamination. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) characterizations approved the texturation of the ZnO thick films prepared by hydrothermal growth method and verified the nonstructural growth with (002) preferred orientation as well as hexagonal phase. XRD technique indicated that the ZnO films had a good quality (big grain size and preferential orientation) and the Raman and FTIR studies confirmed the XRD results. Moreover, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy verified the optoelectronic behavior and demonstrated a potential optical application in this field.