Room Temperature Deposition and Properties of AZO Thin Films by DC Magnetron Sputtering under Different Plasma Power

Abstract

To evaluate the influence of plasma power on the structural, electrical and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films, a set of polycrystalline AZO samples under different plasma power were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature. X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), four-point probe measurements and spectrophotometer were used to characterize these films. XRD shows that all AZO films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with prominent (002) orientation. With the plasma power increasing, the grain size first increases and then decreases. The largest grain size of 23.6 nm in the films is obtained at the plasma power of 123 W. The average optical transmittance of AZO films is over 80% in the visible region. The lowest resistivity of 1.0×10-3Ω•cm is obtained under the plasma power of 220 W.