History of ZnO Sputtering

Sputtering of ZnO films has a history covering more than three decades. The technique is now one of the most versatile deposition processes for industrial production of ZnO films. 

First sputtering processes for ZnO deposition were developed in the late 1960s for manufacturing surface acoustic wave devices [2]. The piezoelectric properties of ZnO films are crucial for that application and major efforts were made to develop ZnO sputtering processes which enabled c-axis oriented growth, high resistivity and unique termination of the ZnO crystallites [3,4]. 

Even today, ZnO films are key components in modern Ag-based coatings for architectural glazing. Nowadays, the most challenging application 

Since the coating material is passed into the vapor phase via momentum exchange caused by energetic particle impact rather than by a chemical or thermal process, virtually any material is a candidate for coating. Films 

The process technology of magnetron sputtering has been described extensively in the literature [24,25]. A noteworthy introduction into magnetron sputtering of optical coatings is given by Herrmann et al. [26]. 

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