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Atomic force microscopy investigation of piezoelectric response of ZnO thin films deposited by HIPIMS

V. TIRON1,* , T. COMAN1, L. SIRGHI1, G. POPA1

Affiliation

  1. ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi, Faculty of Physics, Blvd. Carol I, No. 11, 700506, Iasi, Romania

Abstract

This work reports the effects of substrate temperature and the pressure of the deposition gas on the crystal quality and piezoelectric response of zinc oxide thin films deposited by High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS). The effects of substrate temperature and gas pressure on piezoelectric property of the deposited ZnO films were investigated locally (with nanoscale resolution) by Piezoelectric Force Microscopy (PFM) in connection with the film structure, which was investigated by X-ray diffraction), and the film surface morphology, which was investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Deposition temperature and gas pressure have a strong effect on the piezoelectric response and crystallinity of the thin layers in terms of grain size, residual strain and surface roughness. Piezoelectric response and crystallinity of ZnO were improved considerably by decreasing the gas pressure and/or by increasing substrate temperature. The PFM images reveal that the ZnO films have inversion domains and pronounced grain boundaries..

Keywords

Zinc oxide, Magnetron sputtering, Piezoelectric properties.

Submitted at: Sept. 25, 2012
Accepted at: Feb. 20, 2013

Citation

V. TIRON, T. COMAN, L. SIRGHI, G. POPA, Atomic force microscopy investigation of piezoelectric response of ZnO thin films deposited by HIPIMS, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 15, Iss. 1-2, pp. 77-81 (2013)