High quality c-axis oriented thin ZnO film obtained at very low pre-heating temperature

Highly oriented ZnO thin film has been obtained at a very low pre-heating temperature, with the spin-coating sol–gel technique. The dependence of the c-axis orientation on the pre-heating temperature has been studied with experimental design and response surface techniques to optimize the deposition process with respect to c-axis orientation, and surface uniformity. The optimization variables selected for this study are: pre-heating temperature, spin-coating speed and number of coating layers. The films are probed with X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.