Nanotribology and fractal analysis of ZnO thin films using scanning probe microscopy

Abstract

Characteristics of crystalline structure, roughness and nanotribology of ZnO thin films deposited under various power conditions were achieved by means of x-ray diffraction and scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The ZnO thin films were deposited on the silicon (100) substrates by a radio frequency magnetron sputtering system. Fractal analysis was derived from SPM images, to calculate the fractal dimension complexity of the surface geometry, via a substituting structure function. The results show that the roughness decreases and nanowear rate increases as the sputtering power increases. In addition, the fractal dimensions of the ZnO thin films are also presented.