Growth of zinc oxide nanostructures via thermal oxidation of DC-sputtered zinc films

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures have been obtained by thermal oxidation of DC- sputtered Zinc film (Zn) above the melting temperature of Zinc. The zinc film is directly deposited on the glass substrate or on a ZnO layer pre-deposited on the glass by DC reactive plasma. The films were characterized by X-ray Diffraction before and after oxidation treatment. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) revealed the formation of needlelike and nanostructured network. The optical properties of the obtained nanostructures were studied using UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. The results showed that the presence of pre-deposited ZnO layer on the glass substrate improves significantly the transmittance of the obtained layered structure. Photoluminescence results showed the presence of a weak near band edge emission at 3.35 eV and a defect band which is much broader than that observed in pure Zinc Oxide. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.