Abstract
We investigated various structural, optical, and photoluminescence (PL) properties of as-deposited and post-annealed Al:ZnO (AZO) thin films deposited by sputtering. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that a higher annealing temperature led to modifying the crystalline orientation from (002) to (110). Grain sizes of as-deposited AZO were as large as 12.8 nm, yet post-annealing increased them to 18.4 nm. Optical band gaps were determined to be in the range of 3.4–4 eV, which annealing caused noticeable decreasing in the band gaps. Post-annealing could suppress the Urbach tail values from 0.573 to 0.276 eV. PL emission intensities improved more than 30 times as the result of suppressing the localized states. Both crystallinity and excitation wavelengths could play important roles on emission wavelengths; particularly if the value of excitation energy is close to that of the optical band gap. Fabricated AZO had suitable for light emitting diode (LED) and biological applications.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
