Versatile r.f. magnetron sputtering doping method to produce aluminum‐doped zinc oxide films

• Published in: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Vol. 107; no. 7; pp. 4729 - 4737
• Main Authors: Oliveira, Gabriel Henrique Inácio, Escote, Márcia T., Nantes, Iseli L., Criado, Denise
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Columbus Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-07-2024
• Subjects: Aluminum; AZO; Crystal defects; Doping; Electrical properties; Electrical resistivity; Grain size; Magnetron sputtering; Optical properties; Oxide coatings; sputtering; TCO; transparent conducting oxide; Wire; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxides
• ISSN: 0002-7820; 1551-2916
• DOI: 10.1111/jace.19753

Aluminum‐doped zinc oxide Al:ZnO (AZO) is a non‐toxic material applied as a transparent conductive oxide film. In this study, we report on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of AZO films obtained by thermally oxidizing aluminum‐doped Zn films produced by a versatile and low‐cost method of doping using the magnetron sputtering technique deposition. We use aluminum wire above the zinc target to produce Al:Zn films. The influence of r.f. power and different Al wire lengths on the AZO film properties were studied. The resulting AZO films exhibited Al concentrations of up to 2.85% and an optical gap between 3.22 and 3.29 eV. The transmittance was greater than 80% for all samples, and the electrical resistivity decreased by two orders of magnitude with Al doping. As a result, the sample with an aluminum concentration of approximately 1% had the lowest resistivity. In this work, it was possible to relate the lower resistivity with larger grain size and smaller concentrations of defects or vacancies.