Effect of annealing on ZnO thin films grown on quartz substrate by RF magnetron sputtering

Zinc oxide thin films were grown on quartz substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique in an Argon atmosphere with sputtering power of 50W and sputtering pressure of 2x10-2 Torr and studied the effect of annealing on the structural and optical properties. Crystalline properties of ZnO films as a function of annealing temperature were investigated using X-ray diffraction. XRD analysis revealed that the deposited films were polycrystalline in nature with strong preferential orientation of grains along the c-axis. The micro structural parameters, such as the lattice constant, crystallite size, stress and strain are calculated. The effect of annealing on the deposited films was discussed. All the films present a high transmittance of above 90% in the wavelength range of the visible spectrum and sharp absorption edge near 380 nm.