Use of a helicon-wave excited plasma for aluminum-doped ZnO thin-film sputtering

Abstract

Successful sputtering deposition of aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) thin films was carried out using the helicon-wave excited plasma (HWP). The films deposited on soda-lime glass substrates exhibited a dominant [0001]-oriented growth with a small full-width at half maximum (0.32 deg) of the (0002) x-ray diffraction peak. The film deposited at 300 °C showed a resistivity of 5×10−4 Ω cm without any additional annealings. High optical transmittance greater than 80% was achieved in the visible spectral wavelengths. Similar to the success of the laser ablation technique, the HWP-sputtering method is expected to be developed as one of the versatile techniques for the preparation of semiconductor thin films.

Helicon‐wave‐excited plasma sputtering deposition of CuAlO2 thin films

“…The velocity of Ar cations incident on the target was accelerated by a negative DC-bias (V t ) applied on the target holder. This configuration eliminates the plasma bombardment of the substrate, which gives rise to depositing thin films gently [14,17,18].…”

“…Sputtering deposition method using HWP was named 'helicon-wave-excited plasma sputtering' (HWPS). Until now, deposition of lowresistivity and high-transparency ZnO:Al TCO on sodalime glass [14], epitaxial growths of ZnO on sapphire substrates [17,18], and the deposition of SiO 2 /ZrO 2 mutlilayer dielectric distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) [19] have been demonstrated using the HWPS method. In this article, HWPS deposition of CuAlO 2 thin films is demonstrated.…”

“…However, sputtering methods often cause critical problems such as re-sputtering and surface damage due to high-energy sputtering particles. To overcome these problems, the authors have proposed [14] the use of helicon-wave-excited plasma (HWP) [15,16] as a remote plasma source for sputtering deposition of a condensed matter. HWP can be excited under a relatively low pressure (~10 −2 Pa), which produces high-density and low ion-energy plasma.…”

Fabrication of a n ‐type ZnO/p ‐type Cu–Al–O heterojunction diode by sputtering deposition methods

“…To overcome these problems, the authors have proposed [12] the use of helicon-wave-excited plasma (HWP) as a remote plasma source for sputtering deposition of condensed matter. A HWP can be excited under relatively low pressures (~10 −2 Pa), which produces a high-density and low ion-energy plasma.…”

Deposition of Aluminum-Doped ZnO Films by ICP-Assisted Sputtering

“…The polycrystalline AZO films have been prepared by a variety of techniques such as reactive and nonreactive magnetron sputtering [6], high density plasma assisted (or superimposed) magnetron sputtering [7][8][9][10][11][12], chemical vapor deposition [13], pulsed-laser deposition [14], evaporation [15], spray-pyrolysis [16], Sol-gel preparation [17] and electrochemical deposition [18]. Among them, magnetron sputtering is one of the dominant deposition techniques for the deposition of good quality, large area coating with relatively low substrate temperature [6].…”