Structural properties of zinc oxide thin films by fabrication conditions in pulsed laser deposition

ZnO thin films are deposited on Si(100) substrates at different conditions using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. The crystal structure is determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the surface morphology is observed by the atomic force microscope (AFM). XRD data indicate that ZnO thin films are well crystallized with (002) preferential orientation between 200 degreesC and 550 degreesC, however, it appears to be poor crystallization at low temperature (100 degreesC and room temperature). The thin film fabricated at the temperature of 400 degreesC and at the oxygen pressure of 200 mTorr shows the best surface morphology according to the results of AFM. The photoluminescence (PL) results shows the very strong near band emission, which indicates that PLD is a versatile method for the fabrication of oxide materials by easily controllable experimental conditions.