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Fabrication of highly c-axis textured ZnO thin films piezoelectric transducers by RF sputtering

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Abstract

The influence of fabrication parameters on ZnO film properties has been analyzed through conducting several experiment processes to develop an appropriate deposition condition for obtaining highly c-axis textured films. A transducer with the structure of Al/ZnO/Al/Si was fabricated at low deposition rate and under a temperature of 380 °C in a mixture of gases Ar:O2 = 1:3, and RF power of 178 W. Pt/Ti was employed as the bottom electrode of the transducer fabricated in a suitable substrate temperature, which starts increasing at 380 °C with an increment of 20 °C for each 2 h stage of the deposition. Highly c-axis textured ZnO films have been successfully deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate under feasible conditions, including RF power of 178 W, substrate temperature of 380 °C, deposition pressure of 1.3 Pa and Ar:O2 gas flow ratio of 50%. These conditions have been proposed and confirmed through investigating the influences of the sputtering parameters, such as substrate temperature, RF power and Ar:O2 gas flow ratio, on the properties of ZnO films.

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Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored partly by the National Science Council of the Republic of China under contract No. NSC 99-2221-E-036-004 and partly by Tatung University under contract No. B99-O05-054. The authors greatly appreciated their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taoyuan County, 320, Taiwan, ROC

    Min-Chun Pan, Tzon-Han Wu & Tuan-Anh Bui

  2. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taoyuan County, 320, Taiwan, ROC

    Min-Chun Pan

  3. Graduate Institute in Electro-Optical Engineering, Tatung University, No. 40, Sec. 3, Chungshan North Road, Taipei, 104, Taiwan, ROC

    Wen-Ching Shih

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  1. Min-Chun Pan
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  2. Tzon-Han Wu
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Correspondence to Wen-Ching Shih.

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Pan, MC., Wu, TH., Bui, TA. et al. Fabrication of highly c-axis textured ZnO thin films piezoelectric transducers by RF sputtering. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 23, 418–424 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-011-0490-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-011-0490-y

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