Optimization of the electrical properties of magnetron sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide films for opto-electronic applications

Agashe, Chitra; Kluth, O.; Schöpe, G.; Siekmann, H.; Hüpkes, J.; Rech, Bernd

doi:10.1016/s0040-6090(03)00966-0

Cited by 107 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In the case of ZnO:Al sputtering, the gradient is typically limited and confined within a small thickness range, i.e., below 200 nm. 30 In the case of the ETP-grown layers, this effect resulted in a factor 50 decrease in resistivity within a thickness range of 70 -1300 nm and was related to the development of pyramid-like ZnO:Al grains. As inferred by means of near-IR (NIR) spectroscopic ellipsometry, 31 the relatively high in-grain quality was affected by the scattering losses at the grain boundaries present in the case of thin films, characterized by a small grain size (50-75 nm).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling the resistivity gradient in aluminum-doped zinc oxide grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Ponomarev

Verheijen

Keuning

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

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Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication Citation for published version (APA):Ponomarev, M., Verheijen, M. A., Keuning, W., Sanden, van de, M. C. M., & Creatore, M. (2012). Controlling the resistivity gradient in aluminum-doped zinc oxide grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Journal of Applied Physics, 112(4), 043708-1/7. [043708]. DOI: 10.1063/1.4747942 General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Aluminum-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) generally exhibit a major drawback, i.e., a gradient in resistivity extending over a large range of film thickness. The present contribution addresses the plasma-enhanced CVD deposition of ZnO:Al layers by focusing on the control of the resistivity gradient and providing the solution towards thin ( 300 nm) ZnO:Al layers, exhibiting a resistivity value as low as 4 Â 10 À4 X cm. The approach chosen in this work is to enable the development of several ZnO:Al crystal orientations at the initial stages of the CVD-growth, which allow the formation of a densely packed structure exhibiting a grain size of 60-80 nm for a film thickness of 95 nm. By providing an insight into the growth of ZnO:Al layers, the present study allows exploring their application into several solar cell technologies. Highly conducting (doped) ZnO thin films are being used in diverse applications, such as light-emitting 1 and laser diodes, 2 architectural and automotive glazing, 3 thin-film transistors, 4,5 and high efficiency thin-film solar cells. 6 This latter makes use of ZnO as transparent conducting oxide (TCO), whe...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling the resistivity gradient in aluminum-doped zinc oxide grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Ponomarev

Verheijen

Keuning

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…Amount and activation of the dopant Al is equally important [37,38]. Before analyzing our compositional results, however, two warnings must be expressed: 1) a systematic error around ±5% (relative) should be expected for the absolute composition ratios, due to the relatively low beam voltage and use of elemental standards in EDX analysis; 2) a random error around ±0.1% point (absolute) should also be expected, due to reproducibility limits of the EDX measurement.…”

Section: Elemental Compositionmentioning

confidence: 98%

On performance limitations and property correlations of Al-doped ZnO deposited by radio-frequency sputtering

Crovetto¹,

Ottsen²,

Stamate³

et al. 2016

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Abstract. The electrical properties of RF-sputtered Al-doped ZnO are often spatially inhomogeneous and strongly dependent on deposition parameters. In this work, we study the mechanisms that limit the minimum resistivity achievable under different deposition regimes. In a low-and intermediate pressure regime, we find a generalized dependence of the electrical properties, grain size, texture, and Al content on compressive stress, regardless of sputtering pressure or position on the substrate. In a high-pressure regime, a porous microstructure limits the achievable resistivity and causes it to increase over time as well. The primary cause of inhomogeneity in the electrical properties is identified as energetic particle bombardment. Inhomogeneity in oxygen content is also observed, but its effect on the electrical properties is small and limited to the carrier mobility.

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“…The increase in O:Zn ratio at high working pressure can lead to a change in O incorporation into the film through the grain boundaries which consequently causes a decrease in carrier concentration [2]. The carrier density decrease with the working pressure increase is the main reason for the increase in resistivity.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zinc oxide (ZnO) doped with Al is the most promising alternative material for TCO because of its low resistivity, high transparency, [2][3][4] and even the low cost. Until now, many techniques have been used for preparing the AZO films, such as magnetron sputtering [5], sol-gel [6,7], evaporation [8], pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [9], etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Al-doped ZnO films deposited by magnetron sputtering: effect of sputtering parameters on the electrical and optical properties

Pan¹,

Song²

2017

Materials Science-Poland

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Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were prepared by magnetron sputtering method. The influences of deposition pressure, substrate temperature, Ar flow rate and film thickness on optical and electrical properties were investigated using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrometer and Hall measurements. The experimental results revealed that a low resistivity, smaller than 4 × 10 −4 Ω·cm, was obtained when the deposition pressure was smaller than 0.67 Pa and substrate temperature about 200°C. Ar flow rate had a small influence on the resistivity but a big influence on the transparency at near infrared range (NIR). We obtained optimized AZO thin films with high conductivity and transparency at low deposition pressure, small Ar flow and appropriate temperature (around 200°C). The etching behavior of the AZO thin films deposited at the different Ar flow rates was also studied in this paper. The results show that Ar flow rate is a very important factor affecting the etching behavior.

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Optimization of the electrical properties of magnetron sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide films for opto-electronic applications

Cited by 107 publications

References 13 publications

Controlling the resistivity gradient in aluminum-doped zinc oxide grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Controlling the resistivity gradient in aluminum-doped zinc oxide grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

On performance limitations and property correlations of Al-doped ZnO deposited by radio-frequency sputtering

Al-doped ZnO films deposited by magnetron sputtering: effect of sputtering parameters on the electrical and optical properties

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