Epitaxial aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films on sapphire: I, Effect of substrate orientation

Epitaxial thin films of Al-doped zinc oxide have been grown on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser ablation. The effect of substrate temperature, background pressure of oxygen, and substrate orientation (A, M, R, C) on the orientation relationships between ZnO and sapphire have been evaluated using on- and off-axis X-ray diffractometry. Under all growth conditions zinc oxide, on A- and C-plane sapphire, grew with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. In contrast, on M and R orientations of sapphire, ZnO grew with its c-axis parallel or perpendicular to the substrate depending on the substrate temperate and background pressure employed during growth. In all cases only one unique in-plane relationship between the sapphire substrate and the zinc oxide film was found with the exception of the M-plane at high substrate temperatures.