A Study on the Physical Properties of AZO Films as Variation of Sputtering Conditions

Abstract

TCO (transparent conducting oxide) films are widely used as photoelectric devices in flat panel displays and solar cells. Until now, ITO (indium-tin oxide) films have been used as TCO films. However, with the increase in the cost of ITO films , researchers have been searching for new materials to use as TCO films .Transparent and conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide films were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures. The electric and optical properties of these films were studied by Hall measurement and optical spectroscopy, respectively. All of the films that were deposited at temperatures higher than 200 °C substrate temperature demonstrated over 80% transmittance in the range of the visible spectrum. Since the surface mobility of a particle is limited at a low temperature, the growth rate of AZO thin films would be higher than that at a high temperature. And the films showed minimum resistivity of 6.77 × 10 -3 Ω•cm at substrate temperature of 200 °C.