Effect of rf plasma nitriding time on electrical and optical properties of ZnO thin films

ZnO thin films were prepared by thermal oxidation of metallic Zn films and nitrided by an inductively coupled rf plasma. The effects of successive plasma processing cyclic times on structural and optical properties as well as electrical resistivity were examined by different characterization techniques. A small amount of nitrogen was detected at the film–substrate interface. The grain size decreased slightly as the treatment time increased. The surface roughness of examined films increased while the thickness decreased with increasing plasma treatment time. The electrical resistivity decreased about four orders of magnitude when the sample nitrided for 15 min. However, the transmittance increased as the plasma treatment time increased. The optical band gap increased from 2.76 to 3.02 eV with increasing plasma treatment time from 0 to 15 min.