Patent attributes
The present invention is made to provide a method of producing a ZnO thin film in which the c-axis is oriented in-plane over a large area. A ZnO target 28 as the material of the thin film is sputtered by using a magnetron sputtering system, and a flow of material (material flow) directed from the cathode 23 to the anode 24 is generated in a plasma. The material flow has a high density at its central part and has a low density as it departs from the central part. A substrate 20 is fixed at a position displaced from the central axis of a region 30 where the material flow is generated so as to be inclined relative to the central axis. Thereby, a temperature gradient is naturally formed on the substrate 20, and the c-axis of the ZnO thin film deposited on the substrate 20 is oriented in-plane to the temperature gradient direction. Since the substrate 20 is fixed so as to be inclined relative to the material flow, the area where the c-axis is consistently oriented in-plane becomes larger than before.
