Optical and surface properties of ZnN thin films manufactured by radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering

ZnN is a relatively new material and its physical properties are not yet well studied. In this research, ZnN thin films having different thickness values were deposited on glass substrates by means of radio frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering technique at room temperature and some physical properties of ZnN thin films were investigated by several techniques. UV–vis spectrophotometer and reflectometer were employed to investigate the optical properties of the produced thin films. The surface properties were investigated by using tensiometer and atomic force microscope (AFM). The effects of film thickness on the optical and surface properties of ZnN thin films were discussed. The refractive index and band gap values were found to be dependent on thickness of ZnN thin films. The AFM investigations indicated that the surfaces of the films are compact and smooth. From the wetting experiments, it was found that the surfaces of the films are hydrophobic and surface free energy values are low as reported in literature.