Residual stress and bending strength of ZnO films deposited on polyimide sheet by RF sputtering system

Zinc oxide (ZnO) films were deposited on a soft polyimide sheet substrate by radio frequency sputtering with a ZnO powder target, and the films' crystal orientations and residual stress were investigated using x-ray diffraction as a function of substrate temperature. C-axis oriented ZnO films were achieved using this ZnO powder target method. The ZnO films exhibited high compressive residual stresses between -0.7 and -1.4 GPa. Finally, the authors examined the strength of the obtained film by applying tensile bending loads. No cracks were observed on the surfaces of the ZnO films after a bending test using cylinders with diameters >25 mm. After a bending test using a cylinder with a diameter of 19 mm, large cracks were formed on the films. Therefore, the authors concluded that the tensile bending strength of the obtained films was greater than similar to 420 MPa. (C) 2016 American Vacuum Society.