AMBIENT-PRESSURE, PLASMA-ASSISTED DEPOSITION OF CONFORMAL NANOCRYSTALLINE ZINC OXIDE THIN FILMS

We report a thermal induction plasma-assisted, rapid, ambient-pressure, low-temperature one-step process for depositing conformal, non-porous nanocrystalline ZnO thin film on various substrates ranging from Si (100), fused quartz, glass, muscovite, c- and a-plane sapphire (Al2O3), to polyimide (Kapton (TM)). The predominantly c plane-oriented as-synthesized polycrystalline films range in thickness from 20nm to 200nm, deposited at a growth rate ranging from 2 nm/min to 50 nm/min. The lowest deposition temperature achieved with this method is 162 degrees C and the as-deposited film is found to be conductive (12.5 S/m). Annealing in a pure argon environment at different temperatures ranging from 700 - 950 degrees C changes the textures and morphologies of the thin film-higher annealing temperatures favor the restructuring of ZnO nanocrystalline film to form nanopillars of ZnO.