Modification of ZnO films under high energy Xe-ion irradiations

ZnO films were deposited on (1 0 0) Si substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. These films were irradiated at room temperature with 308 MeV Xe-ions to a fluence of 1.0 × 1012, 1.0 × 1013 or 1.0 × 1014 Xe/cm2. Then the samples were investigated using RBS, XRD, FESEM and PL analyses. The obtained experimental results showed that the deposited ZnO films were highly c-axis orientated and of high purity, 308 MeV Xe-ion irradiations could not change the c-axis oriented. The topography and PL properties of the ZnO films varied with increasing the Xe-ion irradiation fluence. For 1.0 × 1013 or 1.0 × 1014 Xe/cm2 irradiated samples, surface cracks were observed. Furthermore, it was found that the 1.0 × 1014 Xe/cm2 irradiated sample exhibiting the strongest PL ability. The modification of structure and PL properties induced by 308 MeV Xe-ion irradiations were briefly discussed.