Fabrication, Processing and Characterization of Thin Film ZnO for Integrated Optical Gas Sensors

• DOI: 10.1557/proc-1201-h05-14
• Publication Date: 2010-01-14T14:52:23Z
• Authors: Eliana Kamińska; Anna Piotrowska; Iwona Pasternak; Marek Ekielski; Krystyna Gołaszewska; Witold Rzodkiewicz; Tomasz Wojciechowski; Elżbieta Dynowska; Przemysław Struk; Tadeusz Pustelny
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

AbstractZinc oxide layers deposited on quartz substrates by means of RF reactive magnetron sputtering with subsequent RTP annealing in a nitrogen flow at 400°C and in an oxygen flow at 500°C have been investigated in applications to waveguide structures. The ZnO films reveal a highly c-oriented columnar structure with a surface roughness of 4.3 nm. Annealing causes a significant increase of the lattice constant to the value of 5.210±0.001 Å suggesting the relaxation of the stress in the film. The annealing process causes a significant improvement of propagation properties of the fabricated waveguide structures in comparison to structures using as-deposited ZnO films. The minimal attenuation coefficient of the 630 nm thick films was found to be 2.8 and 3.0 dB/cm for TE0 and TM0 modes respectively.