Influence of the gas flow of Argon and the distance between substrate and plasma on properties of Al-doped zinc oxide films

Abstract

Al-doped ZnO(ZAO) films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering using facing zinc oxide targets at room temperature and in argon atmosphere. The effects of the gas flow of Argon and the distance between substrate and plasma on the properties of the ZAO thin films were characterized by several techniques. By optimizing the craft of preparation, the electrical resistivity as low as 3.3×10-4 Ω·cm and the optical transmittance over 80% in the visible range were obtained for these thin ZAO films. Therefore, the ZAO thin films were suitable for the window layers of n-i-p thin film solar cells or transparent conductive films.