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Effects of thermal annealing on the microstructural properties of the lower region in ZnO thin films grown on n-Si (001) substrates

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Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, selected-area electron-diffraction patterns, high-resolution TEM images, and x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy line scans for the ZnO/n-Si (001) heterostructures annealed at 900 °C showed that stacking faults and amorphous layers were formed in the lower region of the ZnO films. The stacking faults existing in the lower region of the ZnO columnar grains originated from the formation of zinc vacancy layers caused by the thermal treatment, resulting in the existence of a tensile strain. The formation of the amorphous layer in the ZnO film was attributed to the accumulation of zinc vacancy layers.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MOST) (No. R0A-2007-000-20044-0). This research was supported by a Grant (Code No. 07K1501-01210) from “Center for Nanostructured Materials Technology” under “21st Century Frontier R&D Programs” of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea

    J.M. Yuk & J.Y. Lee

  2. Division of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 133-791, Korea

    T.W. Kim

  3. Department of Information Display Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 133-791, Korea

    D.I. Son

  4. Thin Film Material Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 136-701, Korea

    W.K. Choi

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  1. J.M. Yuk
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  5. W.K. Choi
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Correspondence to T.W. Kim.

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Yuk, J., Lee, J., Kim, T. et al. Effects of thermal annealing on the microstructural properties of the lower region in ZnO thin films grown on n-Si (001) substrates. Journal of Materials Research 23, 1082–1086 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2008.0141

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2008.0141

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