Studies of ZnO thin films on sapphire (0001) substrates deposited by pulsed laser deposition

ZnO thin films are deposited on sapphire (0001) substrates at different temperatures m the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) system. By measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature, fabrication temperatures higher than 400degreesC is found to be the optimum condition for the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films. With the increase of the fabrication temperature, the grain size becomes bigger and the thin film becomes more homogeneous. In order to get the high-quality ZnO thin film at low temperature, ZnO thin films are deposited at room temperature and annealed in a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system. It is found that the optical property of the thin film can be greatly improved by annealing in RTA system.