Sol-gel preparation of ZnO films with extremely preferred orientation along (002) plane from zinc acetate solution

ZnO films with preferred orientation along the (002) plane were fabricated by the sol-gel method using Zn(CH3COO)(2) . 2H(2)O as starting material. A homogeneous and stable solution was prepared by dissolving the zinc acetate in a solution of 2-methoxyethanol and monoethanolamine. ZnO films highly oriented along the (002) plane were obtained by preheating the dip-coating films at temperatures from 200 degrees-500 degrees C for 10 min after each coating and postheating at temperatures from 500 degrees-800 degrees C for 1 h. The heat-treatment conditions, the withdrawal speed of the substrate, and the film thickness were found to strongly affect the crystallographic orientation, relative density and morphology of the resultant ZnO films. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.