Formation of ultra-smooth highly orientated ZnO films on amorphous surface (SiO2/Si) by magnetron sputtering

The influence of temperature of amorphous SiO2/Si substrates on the formation of ultra-smooth highly oriented ZnO(0001) films by direct current magnetron sputtering has been studied. It has been shown that ZnO films obtained at a substrate temperature of 500°С have a lamellar shape of crystallites regardless of the growth rate in the range 1–7 nm/s. This feature of the crystallite morphology is associated with the minimum root-mean-square surface roughness of 0.9 nm for traditional high-speed deposition methods. The ultra-smooth surface of the films and the lamellar shape of the ZnO crystallites are mainly due to the two-dimensional mechanism of film formation under conditions of charging the growing surface in the magnetron discharge plasma.