Growth of crystalline zinc oxide thin films by fine-channel-mist chemical vapor deposition

A simple, cost-effective, and safe growth technique, that is, mist chemical vapor deposition method, has been applied to the growth of single crystalline ZnO thin films on a-plane sapphire substrates. A water solution of zinc acetic acid and compressed air were used as sources, and the growth was performed at 800 degrees C. Under optimized conditions, the X-ray diffraction rocking curve's full-width at half maximum was 224 arcsec, rotational domains were hardly observed, and the photoluminescence spectra showed predominant near-band-edge emission without noticeable deep-level emissions. The potential of the technique for the growth of single-crystalline ZnO thin films was apparently shown, and efforts to improve source purity, which affects the optical and electrical properties of the films, as well as to further optimize the growth conditions will contribute to the fabrication of multifunctional ZnO-based thin films towards wide application fields without a heavy load to the environment.