Piezoelectric ZnO thin films prepared by cyclic sputtering and etching technology

A novel procedure of ion assisted deposition technology consisting of cyclic sputtering and ion etching is presented. Cross-resistivities of ZnO films deposited by that technique increased up to 10/sup 10/ /spl Omega/cm due to the formation of buffer regions in the films. These ZnO films with the piezoelectric coefficient of the order of 10/sup -12/ m/V are applicable in low-frequency microactuators.