Au assisted smooth ultrathin epitaxial ZnO film grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire(0001)

Chen, Xuegang; Sun, Zhaofei; Wang, Guoliang; Huang, Jijie; Qiao, Xurong; Zhang, Zhen; Li, Tao; Zhang, Lihua R.; Kisslinger, Kim; Lu, Zonghuan; Dhull, Neha; Lin, Weichang; Lu, Toh-Ming; Wang, Gwo-Ching

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2025.162760

Au assisted smooth ultrathin epitaxial ZnO film grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire(0001)

Journal Article · Fri Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Applied Surface Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2025.162760· OSTI ID:2555710

Chen, Xuegang ^[1]; Sun, Zhaofei ^[1]; Wang, Guoliang ^[2]; Huang, Jijie ^[2]; Qiao, Xurong ^[3]; Zhang, Zhen ^[3]; Li, Tao ^[3]; ^[4]; Kisslinger, Kim ^[4]; Lu, Zonghuan ^[5]; Dhull, Neha ^[5]; Lin, Weichang ^[5]; Lu, Toh-Ming ^[5]; Wang, Gwo-Ching ^[5]

Anhui University, Hefei (China)
Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Shenzhen (China)
Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Shaanxi (China)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States)

High quality ZnO has applications in photonics and electronics. Literature has shown that continuous, but rough ZnO film can be grown on sapphire substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). In this work, ZnO and Au were co-deposited by PLD on sapphire(0001) substrates from a single ZnO target overlaid with an Au strip that serves as a catalyst. The reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns show paired double stripes from sample of ZnO-Au where the difference of in-plane lattice parameters between ZnO and Au is 11.4 %. The two-dimensional (2D) reciprocal space maps constructed from azimuthal RHEED (ARHEED) patterns reveal parallel epitaxial relationship between ZnO and Au in the continuous ZnO-Au film on sapphire substrate. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cross section images and energy dispersive spectroscopy maps show a minute amount of Au nanocrystals distributed in the entire ultrathin ZnO film. Atomic force microscopy shows the root-mean-square roughness of the surface of ultrathin ZnO film with Au is in the sub-nm range. The ARHEED and TEM results show that a couple of atomic percentages of Au co-deposited with ZnO catalyzes the growth of smooth ultrathin epitaxial ZnO film.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 2555710

Report Number(s):: BNL--228001-2025-JAAM

Journal Information:: Applied Surface Science, Journal Name: Applied Surface Science Vol. 693; ISSN 0169-4332

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Au
Pulsed laser deposition
TEM
ZnO
azimuthal RHEED
epitaxy
sapphire

Au assisted smooth ultrathin epitaxial ZnO film grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire(0001)

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