Effects of thermal treatment on structure, surface microstructure and optical properties of nitrogen-ion irradiated nanoparticle thin films

In this paper, we studied the effects of ion irradiation and annealing treatment on the ZnO thin films. ZnO thin films were first prepared on sapphire substrate by rf-magnetron sputtering technique, followed by nitrogen ion irradiation and annealing treatment. The crystallographic properties, surface morphology and optical properties changed after nitrogen ion irradiation and annealing treatment, which were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and absorption spectroscopy.