Optical properties of ZnO thin films deposed by RF magnetron

We have grown ZnO thin films on glass substrate by R.F magnetron sputtering using metallic zinc target. The influences of some parameters on thin film optical properties were assessed. They exhibited extremely high resistivity of 1012 Ω.cm, an energy gap of 3.3 eV at room temperature. It was found that a R.F power of 50 W, a target to substrate distance of 70 mm, very low gas pressures of 3.35 x 10-3 Torr of argon and oxygen mixed gas atmosphere gave ZnO thin films with a good homogeneity and a high crystallinity. All the films are transparent in the visible region (400 to 800 nm) with average transmittance above 80 %. The optical transmittance and refractive index, calculated from the spectra of optical absorbance, show a significant dependence on the growth parameters. As for the sample grown at 100°C, the average transmittance is about 80% in the visible wavelength range and the refractive index is estimated to be 1.97.      key words: ZnO; R.F sputtering magnetron; X-ray diffraction; transmittance; refractive index.