The c-axis orientation ZnO by ICP enhanced HiPIMS at ambient temperature

• A novel plasma source was constructed by HiPIMS and ICP.
• The orientation growth of ZnO crystal in (002) facet was obtained at ambient temperature.
• The role of ICP plasma was found based on the OES diagnostic combined with ZnO electrical properties.

In this paper, a facile method to prepare a high c-axis orientation ZnO film is reported. We combine a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in purpose of improving the reaction activity of Zn species sputtered from HiPIMS with dissociated oxygen, and gaining a high quality ZnO. The diagnostic of optical emission spectroscope (OES), which reveals the Zn+ and atomic oxygen concentrations in plasma, is evident the increasing ionization of Zn and the dissociation of O2 by ICP. After characterizing films grown with and without ICP, likely crystal through x-ray diffraction (XRD), component by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and morphology by atomic force microscope (AFM), we conclude that ICP assistance is crucial for the ZnO preferentially growth in (002) facet. With ICP assistance ZnO is grown in a big crystal size with a good quality.