Thermal annealing using ultra-short laser pulses to improve the electrical properties of Al:ZnO thin films

Thermal annealing using ultra-short laser pulses to improve the electrical properties of Al:ZnO thin films

Industrial-grade Al:ZnO thin films, were annealed by UV picosecond laser irradiation in argon atmosphere. A remarkable increase of both the carrier density and electron mobility was measured, while the optical properties in the 400–1000nm range did not change significantly. We studied the microstruc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta materialia Vol. 98; pp. 327 - 335
Main Authors: Scorticati, D., Illiberi, A., Bor, T.C., Eijt, S.W.H., Schut, H., Römer, G.R.B.E., Klein Gunnewiek, M., Lenferink, A.T.M., Kniknie, B.J., Mary Joy, R., Dorenkamper, M.S., de Lange, D.F., Otto, C., Borsa, D., Soppe, W.J., Huis in ’t Veld, A.J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2015
Subjects:
Al:ZnO
Annealing
Carrier density
Electrical properties
Electrodes
Irradiation
Laser-induced defects
Lasers
Positron annihilation
Thin films
Ultrafast laser
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Ultrafast laser
Annealing
Laser-induced defects
Al:ZnO
Electrical properties
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Summary:Industrial-grade Al:ZnO thin films, were annealed by UV picosecond laser irradiation in argon atmosphere. A remarkable increase of both the carrier density and electron mobility was measured, while the optical properties in the 400–1000nm range did not change significantly. We studied the microstructure of the films, in order to explain the observed macroscopical changes upon ultra-short pulsed laser annealing. The effects of the ps-laser irradiation are shown to be attributed to the formation of defects and a local atomic rearrangement on the sub-nm scale. This interpretation is rigorously based on the cross-referenced analysis of different experimental techniques (i.e. SEM, AFM, positron annihilation, optical spectroscopy, Hall measurements, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and XRD). The results of this study can be used to develop a new, viable, technological processing technique to further improve Al:ZnO electrodes.
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ISSN:1359-6454
1873-2453
DOI:10.1016/j.actamat.2015.07.047