Low temperature synthesis of Al doped ZnO thin films by facing target sputtering

• Published in: Surface & coatings technology 2013-08, Vol.228, p.S101-S106
• Main Authors: Song, Doo-Hoon, Shin, Kyung-Sik, Kim, Youn-Joun, Choi, Yoon-Seock, Choi, In-Sik, Han, Jeon-Geon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Al doped zinc oxide; Applied sciences; AZO; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Facing target; Materials science; Metals. Metallurgy; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Physics; Production techniques; Surface treatment; Surface treatments; TCO; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0257-8972; 1879-3347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2012.07.062

In this work, aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were synthesized at room temperature on PET substrates by using two different types of magnetron sputtering sources at the same time; deposited from two facing ZnO targets in a confined magnetic field, and co-doped from an Al target located outside of this region. The purpose of this system was not only to retain the advantages of the FTS system but also to propose a new type of doping concept. With this configuration, it was expected to get more flexibility for the tuning of Al concentration by controlling the external doping source. For the first, the gas mixture effect on the film properties was studied. In order to get a high quality crystallographic structure for acquiring high mobility, we controlled Ar working pressure, O2 partial pressure, and H2 partial pressure in sequence. After deposition, structural, electrical, optical, and surface morphological characteristics were examined. As a result, we could optimize the gas mixture condition including 2.5mTorr of Ar, 1.2sccm of O2 partial pressure, and 3sccm of H2 partial pressure. Secondly, Al doping concentration was controlled by changing the external Al target power density. Moderate carrier concentration could be secured by tuning the Al doping. Also, it was deduced that doping reaction might be increased by the Al particles which had moderate energy. As a result, we could deduce the optimized Al power density as 15W/cm2. Under our optimized condition, AZO films could have good electrical and optical properties with a minimum resistivity of 5.344×10−4Ωcm and a maximum transmittance of 90.2%. At the end, TCO performance was derived (13.4mΩ−1) and this value was found to be valuable compared to other authors' latest works and commercial ITO. ► High electrical and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO for transparent conductive oxide films. ► It is possible to use low temperature synthesis with plastic substrates. ► To retain the advantages of the FTS system as well as to propose a new type of doping concept. ► TCO performance was derived by the figure of merit (13.4mΩ−1).