Annealing effects of ZnO thin films on p-Si(100) substrate deposited by PFCVAD

In this study, ZnO films were prepared on p-Si substrates using the pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition (PFCVAD) method. We report the effect of annealing temperature on structural and optical properties. The crystallographic structure and the size of the crystallites in the films were studied by means of X-ray diffraction. The films had a weak peak (100) orientation at 2 theta = similar to 32 degrees. X-ray diffraction analysis of the as-deposited ZnO and the film annealed at 850 degrees C showed a strong ZnO (002) diffraction peak centered at 34.1 degrees and 34.5 degrees, respectively. The (004) peak was seen for film annealed at 850 degrees C. ZnO film annealed at 850 degrees C had higher grain size and better crystallinity. Optical properties of the ZnO films were studied using a UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometer. The optical band gap of the films was determined using the reflectance spectra by means of the Kubelka-Munk formula. From the optical properties, the band gap energy estimated for films as-deposited and annealed at 850 degrees C was 3.00 and 3.28 eV, respectively. The Raman scattering spectra of the films was observed at a laser power of 2 mW.