Controlling growth rate anisotropy for formation of continuous ZnO thin films from seeded substrates

Solution-processed zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films are promising candidates for low-temperature-processable active layers in transparent thin film electronics. In this study, control of growth rate anisotropy using ZnO nanoparticle seeds, capping ions, and pH adjustment leads to a low-temperature (90 ° C) hydrothermal process for transparent and high-density ZnO thin films. The common 1D ZnO nanorod array was grown into a 2D continuous polycrystalline film using a short-time pure solution method. Growth rate anisotropy of ZnO crystals and the film morphology were tuned by varying the chloride (Cl(-)) ion concentration and the initial pH of solutions of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), and the competitive adsorption effects of Cl(-) ions and HMTA ligands on the anisotropic growth behavior of ZnO crystals were proposed. The lateral growth of nanorods constituting the film was promoted by lowering the solution pH to accelerate the hydrolysis of HMTA, thereby allowing the adsorption effects from Cl(-) to dominate. By optimizing the growth conditions, a dense ∼100 nm thickness film was fabricated in 15 min from a solution of [Cl(-)]/[Zn(2+)] = 1.5 and pH=  4.8 ± 0.1. This film shows >80% optical transmittance and a field-effect mobility of 2.730 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) at zero back-gate bias.