Industrially-styled room-temperature pulsed laser deposition of ZnO:Al films

Abstract

The aim of the current study was the deposition of aluminium-doped zinc oxide films (ZnO:Al or AZO) by the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique at room temperature in an industrially-styled large-area multi-beam Nd:YAG laser coater. The influence of the O 2–Ar ratio in the deposition atmosphere on the morphology and texture was studied by means of atomic force microscopy, glancing angle X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. The microstructures of the ZnO:Al films change drastically from amorphous films at low O 2 contents over nanocrystalline (100)–(002)–(101) ZnO (wurtzite type structure) textured films at medium O 2 contents to finally high-indexed planes of ZnO and ZnO 2 on Si substrates and amorphous structures on glass at the highest O 2 contents in the deposition atmosphere. This phenomenon is caused by Ar ion bombardment and has extremely high influence on the surface roughness and morphology.