Structural and Optical Properties of Zinc Nitride Films Prepared by Pulsed Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Deposition

Polycrystalline zinc nitride films are deposited on Corning 7059 glass substrates by pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition (PFCVAD). The crystallographic structure is studied by means of x-ray diffraction. These
measurements show that all the films are crystallized in the cubic structure, in a preferred orientation along the (332) and (631) directions. Weak XRD signal shows small crystallites distributed in an amorphous tissue. A small improvement of crystallinity is observed with annealing. Optical parameters such as absorption, energy band gap, Urbach tail, extinction coefficients have been determined. The Urbach tail energy is decreased with annealing at 500°C for one hour. Energy band gap values are found to be increased by
annealing.