Effect of oxygen partial pressure and transparent substrates on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films and their performance in energy harvesters

Yan-ping Xia; Pei-hong Wang; Shi-wei Shi; Gang He; Miao Zhang; Jian-guo L&#252;; Zhao-qi Sun

doi:10.1007/s12613-017-1450-1

Volume 24 Issue 6

Jun. 2017

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials > 2017 > 24(6): 675-680

Yan-ping Xia, Pei-hong Wang, Shi-wei Shi, Gang He, Miao Zhang, Jian-guo Lü, and Zhao-qi Sun, Effect of oxygen partial pressure and transparent substrates on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films and their performance in energy harvesters, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 24(2017), No. 6, pp. 675-680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-017-1450-1

Cite this article as:

Yan-ping Xia, Pei-hong Wang, Shi-wei Shi, Gang He, Miao Zhang, Jian-guo Lü, and Zhao-qi Sun, Effect of oxygen partial pressure and transparent substrates on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films and their performance in energy harvesters, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 24(2017), No. 6, pp. 675-680. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-017-1450-1

Citation:

PDF( 1335 KB)

Research Article

Effect of oxygen partial pressure and transparent substrates on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films and their performance in energy harvesters

+ Author Affiliations

Corresponding author:
Pei-hong Wang E-mail: wangpeihong2002@ahu.edu.cn
Received: 8 October 2016; Revised: 10 January 2017; Accepted: 11 January 2017

Abstract

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited onto different substrates-tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)/glass, ITO/polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), ITO/polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-by the radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method. The effect of various O₂/(Ar+O₂) gas flow ratios (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6) was studied in detail. ZnO layers deposited onto ITO/PEN and ITO/PET substrates exhibited a stronger c-axis preferred orientation along the (0002) direction compared to ZnO deposited onto ITO/glass. The transmittance spectra of ZnO films showed that the maximum transmittances of ZnO films deposited onto ITO/glass, ITO/PEN, and ITO/PET substrates were 89.2%, 65.0%, and 77.8%, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the film surfaces indicated that the grain was uniform. The cross-sectional SEM images showed that the ZnO films were columnar structures whose c-axis was perpendicular to the film surface. The test results for a fabricated ZnO thin film based energy harvester showed that its output voltage increased with increasing acceleration of external vibration.
- zinc oxide;
- thin films;
- RF sputtering;
- gas flow ratio;
- piezoelectricity;
- energy harvesting

FullText(HTML)

Supplements(0)

References(25)

References

[1]	L. Li, L. Fang, X.M. Chen, J. Liu, F.F. Yang, Q.J. Li, G.B. Liu, and S.J. Feng, Influence of oxygen argon ratio on the structural, electrical, optical and thermoelectrical properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films, Phys. E, 41(2008), No. 1, p. 169.
[2]	M. Sibinski, K. Znajdek, S. Walczak, M. Słoma, M. Górski, and A. Cenian, Comparison of ZnO:Al, ITO and carbon nanotube transparent conductive layers in flexible solar cells applications, Mater. Sci. Eng. B, 177(2012), No. 15, p. 1292.
[3]	S. Logothetidis, A. Laskarakis, S. Kassavetis, S. Lousinian, C. Gravalidis, and G. Kiriakidis, Optical and structural properties of ZnO for transparent electronics, Thin Solid Films, 516(2008), No. 7, p. 1345.
[4]	C.T. Pana, Z.H. Liu, Y.C. Chen, and C.F. Liu, Design and fabrication of flexible piezo-microgenerator by depositing ZnO thin films on PET substrates, Sens. Actuators A, 159(2010), No. 1, p. 96.
[5]	P.H. Wang and H.J. Du, ZnO thin film piezoelectric MEMS vibration energy harvesters with two piezoelectric elements for higher output performance, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 86(2015), No. 7, p. 075002.
[6]	H.C. Liu, C.J. Tay, C.G. Quan, T. Kobayashi, and C. Lee, Piezoelectric MEMS energy harvester for low-frequency vibrations with wideband operation range and steadily increased output power, J. Microelectromech. Syst., 20(2011), No. 5, p. 1131.
[7]	G. Chen, C. Song, and F. Pan, Magnetoresistive sensors with hybrid Co/insulator/ZnO:Co junctions, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 20(2013), No. 2, p. 160.
[8]	P.H. Wang, H.J. Du, S.N. Shen, M.S. Zhang, and B. Liu, Deposition, characterization and optimization of zinc oxide thin film for piezoelectric cantilevers, Appl. Surf. Sci., 258(2012), No. 24, p. 9510.
[9]	R. Elfrink, T.M. Kamel, M. Goedbloed, S. Matova, D. Hohlfeld, Y. van Andel, and R. van Schaijk, Vibration energy harvesting with aluminum nitride-based piezoelectric devices, J. Micromech. Microeng., 19(2009), No. 9.
[10]	P. Janphuang, R. Lockhart, N. Uffer, D. Briand, and N.F. De Rooji, Vibrational piezoelectric energy harvesters based on thinned bulk PZT sheets fabricated at the wafer level, Sens. Actuators A, 210(2014), No. 1, p. 1.
[11]	P.H. Wang, H.J. Du, S.N. Shen, M.S. Zhang, and B. Liu, Preparation and characterization of ZnO microcantilever for nanoactuation, Nanoscale Res. Lett., 7(2012), article No. 176.
[12]	T. Xu, G.Y. Wu, G.B. Zhang, and Y.L. Hao, The compatibility of ZnO piezoelectric film with micromachining process, Sens. Actuators A, 104(2003), No. 1, p. 61.
[13]	Y. Yoshino, K. Inoue, M. Takeuchi, T. Makino, Y. Katayama, and T. Hata, Effect of substrate surface morphology and interface microstructure in ZnO thin films formed on various substrates, Vacuum, 59(2000), No. 2-3, p. 403.
[14]	K.H. Lee, N.I. Cho, E.J. Yun, and H.G. Nam, Characterization of ZnO thin films grown on various substrates by RF magnetron sputtering, Appl. Surf. Sci., 256(2010), No. 13, p. 4241.
[15]	X.Q. Meng, C.T. Yang, W.J. Fu, and J. Wan, Preparation and electrical properties of ZnO/PZT films by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering, Mater. Lett., 83(2012), No. 23, p. 179.
[16]	S. Singh, R.S. Srinivasa, and S.S. Major, Effect of substrate temperature on the structure and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering, Thin Solid Films, 515(2007), No. 24, p. 8718.
[17]	W. Gao and Z.W. Li, ZnO thin films produced by magnetron sputtering, Ceram. Int., 30(2004), No. 7, p. 1155.
[18]	X.L. Zhang, K.N. Hui, K.S. Hui, and J. Singh, Structural and optical characterization of high-quality ZnO thin films deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering, Mater. Res. Bull., 48(2013), No. 3, p. 1093.
[19]	B. Zhou, A.V. Rogachev, Z.B. Liu, D.G. Piliptsou, H.J. Ji, and X.H. Jiang, Effects of oxygen/argon ratio and annealing on structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films, Appl. Surf. Sci., 258(2012), No. 15, p. 5759.
[20]	H.D. Kim, M.J. Yun, and S. Kim, All ITO-based transparent resistive switching random access memory using oxygen doping method, J. Alloys Compd., 653(2015), p. 534.
[21]	S. Joshi, M.M. Nayak, and K. Rajanna, Effect of post-deposition annealing on transverse piezoelectric coefficient and vibration sensing performance of ZnO thin films, Appl. Surf. Sci., 296(2014), No. 8, p. 169.
[22]	Y. Igasaki and H. Kanma, Argon gas pressure dependence of the properties of transparent conducting ZnO:Al films deposited on glass substrates, Appl. Surf. Sci., 169-170(2001), No. 2, p. 508.
[23]	L.W. Wang, Z. Xu, F.J. Zhang, S.L. Zhao, and L.F. Lu, Structure, optical, and magnetic properties of Mn-doped ZnO films prepared by sputtering, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 17(2010), No. 4, p. 475.
[24]	J. Zhou, X.L. He, W.B. Wang, Q. Zhu, W.P. Xuan, H. Jin, S.R. Dong, M. De Wang, and J.K. Luo, Transparent surface acoustic wave devices on ZnO/glass using Al-doped ZnO as the electrode, IEEE Electron Device Lett., 34(2013), No. 10, p. 1319.
[25]	Y.P. Xia, P.H. Wang, S.W. Shi, Y.M. Liu, G. He, M. Zhang, J.G. Lü, and Z.Q. Sun, Deposition and characterization of AZO thin films on flexible glass substrates using DC magnetron sputtering technique, Ceram. Int., 43(2016), No. 5, p. 4536.