Atmosphere effects on micron-sized ZnO ridges during sintering

During the fabrication of micron-sized ceramic features, sintering plays a critical role in shape retention and microstructure evolution. Because of the evaporation tendency of zinc oxide (ZnO) during sintering, atmosphere has a significant influence on the sintering behavior and feature fidelity. In this study, micron-sized ZnO ridge features were sintered under air and argon atmospheres. Ridge size, line edge roughness, and shrinkage were characterized. Sintering mechanisms and evaporation mass loss were analyzed in order to obtain fundamental understanding of the micron-sized ZnO feature sintering. Oxygen partial pressure is the deciding factor in the ridge feature evolution. The argon atmosphere leads to faster grain growth and densification but compromises the ridge size and ridge grain size due to increased mass loss.