Effect of low oxygen pressure on structural and magnetic properties of quenched SrFe12O19 thin films

Strontium hexaferrite thin films have been grown on glass substrates at room temperature in oxygen environment by pulsed laser deposition method. The effect of oxygen pressure (p(o2)) on the structural and magnetic properties has been investigated. The as-deposited films were found to be amorphous in nature. The crystallization of these films was achieved by annealing at a temperature of 850 A degrees C in air. The thickness of the film increased with p(o2). The film grown at p(o2) = 0.455 Pa had a clear hexagonal structure. The values of coercivity for the films were found to increase with p(o2).

Structural and optical properties of a-plane ZnO thin films synthesized on γ-LiAlO2 (302) substrates by low pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Nonpolar a-plane (1120) ZnO thin films have been fabricated on gamma-LiAlO2 (302) substrates via the low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. An obvious intensity variation of the E-2 mode in the Raman spectra indicates that there exhibits in-plane optical anisotropy in the a-plane ZnO thin films. Highly-oriented uniform grains of rectangular shape can be seen from the atomic force microscopy images, which mean that the lateral growth rate of the thin films is also anisotropic. It is demonstrated experimentally that a buffer layer deposited at a low temperature (200 degrees C) can improve the structural and optical properties of the epilayer to a large extent. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of oxygen partial pressure on the structure and photoluminescence of direct current reactive magnetron sputtering ZnO thin films

The effects of oxygen partial pressure on the structure and photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO films were studied. The films were prepared by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering with various oxygen concentrations at room temperature. With increasing oxygen ratio, the structure of films changes from zinc and zinc oxide phases, single-phase ZnO, to the (002) orientation, and the mechanical stresses exhibit from tensile stress to compressive stress. Films deposited at higher oxygen pressure show weaker emission intensities, which may result from the decrease of the oxygen vacancies and zinc interstitials in the film. This indicates that the emission in ZnO film originates from the oxygen vacancy and zinc interstitial-related defects. From optical transmittance spectra of ZnO films, the plasma edge shifts towards the shorter wavelength with the improvement of film stoichiometry. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of oxygen partial pressure on the optical absorption edge and the UV emission energy of ZnO films

The optical absorption edge and ultraviolet (UV) emission energy of ZnO films deposited by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering at room temperature have been investigated. With the oxygen ratio increasing, the structure of films changes from zinc and zinc oxide coexisting phase to single-phase ZnO and finally to the highly (002) orientation. Both the grain size and the stress of ZnO film vary with the oxygen partial pressure. Upon increasing the oxygen partial pressure in the growing ambient, the visible emission in the room-temperature photoluminescence spectra was suppressed without sacrificing the band-edge emission intensity in the ultraviolet region. The peaks of photoluminescence spectra were located at 3.06---3.15 eV. From optical transmittance spectra of ZnO films, the optical band gap edge was observed to shift towards shorter wavelength with the increase of oxygen partial pressure.

Effects of oxygen partial pressure on packing density and laser damage threshold of TiO2 thin films

TiO2 films are deposited by electron beam evaporation as a function of oxygen partial pressure. The packing density, refractive index, and extinction coefficient all decrease with the increase of pressure, which also induces the change of the film's microstructure, such as the increase of voids and H2O concentration in the film. The laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the film increases monotonically with the rise of pressure in this experiment. The porous structure and low nonstoichiometric defects absorption contribute to the film's high LIDT. The films prepared at the lowest and the highest pressure show nonstoichiometric and surface-defects-induced damage features, respectively.(C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Influences of oxygen partial pressure on structure and related properties of ZrO2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation deposition

ZrO2 thin films were prepared by electron beam evaporation at different oxygen partial pressures. The influences of oxygen partial pressure on structure and related properties of ZrO2 thin films were studied. Transmittance, thermal absorption, structure and residual stress of ZrO2 thin films were measured by spectrophotometer, surface thermal lensing technique (STL), X-ray diffraction and optical interferometer, respectively. The results showed that the structure and related properties varied progressively with the increase of oxygen partial pressure. The refractive indices and the packing densities of the thin films decreased when the oxygen partial pressure increased. The tetragonal phase fraction in the thin films decreased gradually as oxygen partial pressure increased. The residual stress of film deposited at base pressure was high compressive stress, the value decreased with the increase of oxygen partial pressure, and the residual stress became tensile with the further increase of oxygen pressure, which was corresponding to the evolution of packing densities and variation of interplanar distances. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Working pressure dependence of properties of Al2O3 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation

The effects of working pressure on properties of Al2O3 thin films are investigated. Transmittance of the Al2O3 thin film is measured by a Lambda 900 spectrometer. Laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) is measured by a Nd:YAG laser at 355nm with a pulse width of 7ns. Microdefects were observed under a Nomarski microscope. The samples are characterized by optical properties and defect, as well as LIDT under the 355 nm Nd: YAG laser radiation. It is found that the working pressure has fundamental effect on the LIDT. It is the absorption rather than the microdefect that plays an important role on the LID T of Al2O3 thin film.

Oxygen pressure dependences of structure and properties of ZnO films deposited on amorphous glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition

ZnO films are prepared on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at different oxygen pressures, and the effects of oxygen pressure on the structure and optoelectrical properties of as-grown ZnO films are investigated. The results show that the crystallite size and surface roughness of the films increase, but the carrier concentration and optical energy gap E-g decrease with increasing oxygen pressure. Only UV emission is found in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of all the samples, and its intensity increases with oxygen pressure. Furthermore, there are marked differences in structure and properties between the films grown at low oxygen pressures (0.003 and 0.2 Pa) and the films grown at high oxygen pressures (24 and 150 Pa), which is confirmed by the fact that the crystallite size and UV emission intensity markedly increase, but the carrier concentration markedly decreases as oxygen pressure increases from 0.2 to 24 Pa. These results show that the crystal quality, including the microstructural quality and stoichiometry proportion, of the prepared ZnO films improves as oxygen pressure increases, particularly from 0.2 to 24 Pa.

High rate deposition of microcrystalline silicon films by high-pressure radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD)

Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) thin films were prepared by high-pressure radio-frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) with a screened plasma. The deposition rate and crystallinity varying with the deposition pressure, rf power, hydrogen dilution ratio and electrodes distance were systematically studied. By optimizing the deposition parameters the device quality mu c-Si:H films have been achieved with a high deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s at a high pressure. The V-oc of 560 mV and the FF of 0.70 have been achieved for a single-junction mu c-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of 7.8 angstrom/s.

Effects of disk rotation rate on the growth of ZnO films by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

ZnO films were grown at low pressure in a vertical metal-organic vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor with a rotating disk. The structural and morphological properties of the ZnO films grown at different disk rotation rate (DRR) were investigated. The growth rate increases with the increase of DRR. The ZnO film grown at the DRR of 450 revolutions per minute (rpm) has the lowest X-ray rocking curve full width at half maximum and shows the best crystalline quality and morphology. In addition, the crystalline quality and morphology are improved as the DRR increased but both are degraded when the DRR is higher than 450 rpm. These results can help improve in understanding the rotation effects on the ZnO films grown by MOCVD. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of the sulfur pressure on pyrite FeS2 films prepared by sulfurizing thermally iron films

The effect of sulfur vapor pressure in preparing the FeS2 films has been discussed and some incongruous views about sulfur pressure have been clarified in this paper based on experimental results and theoretical analysis. It is shown that lower sulfur pressures than the saturation value only result in poorer crystallization and worse performances, and in other words the FeS2 films could be optimized through improving the sulfur pressure till the saturation point. However for a certain temperature the sulfur pressure is limited by its saturated vapor pressure, and further increase of the sulfur quantity reacted with Fe films has little influence on the structure and properties of the pyrite films. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Very low-pressure VLP-CVD growth of high quality gamma-Al2O3 films on silicon by multi-step process

gamma-Al2O3 films were grown on Si (10 0) substrates using the sources of TMA (AI(CH3)(3)) and O-2 by very low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. The effects of temperature control on the crystalline quality, surface morphology, uniformity and dielectricity were investigated. It has been found that the,gamma-Al2O3 film prepared at a temperature of 1000degreesC has a good crystalline quality, but the surface morphology, uniformity and dielectricity were poor due to the etching reaction between 0, and Si substrate in the initial growth stage. However, under a temperature-varied multi-step process the properties Of gamma-Al2O3 film were improved. The films have a mirror-like surface and the dielectricity was superior to that grown under a single-step process. The uniformity of gamma-Al2O3 films for 2-in epi-wafer was <5%, it is better than that disclosed elsewhere. In order to improve the crystalline quality, the gamma-Al2O3 films were annealed for I h in O-2 atmosphere. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.