The characteristics of organic light emitting diodes with Al doped zinc oxide grown by atomic layer deposition as a transparent conductive anode

Al doped zinc oxide (AZO) films, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) were investigated for applying a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer as an anode for organic light emitting diode (OLED) devices. AZO films with a thickness of 100 nm were deposited at various Al atomic ratios ranging from 0 to 5% at a deposition temperature (250 °C). The optimum electrical properties: the carrier mobility, the resistivity, and the sheet resistance for the 2% AZO film were found to be 16.2 cm² V^?1 s^?1, 1.5 × 10^?3 cm^?3, and 217 Ω/sq, respectively. The red OLED devices were fabricated using AZO anodes utilizing the various Al atomic ratios; the electrical and optical characteristics were then investigated. The best luminance, quantum efficiency, and current efficiency were found in the OLED device using the 2% AZO TCO; the results were 16599 cd/m², 8.2%, and 7.5 cd/A, respectively.     

Effect of substrate rotation speed on structure and properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by rf-sputtering

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by rf-sputtering at room temperature. The effects of substrate rotation speed (ω_S) on the morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties were investigated. SEM transversal images show that the substrate rotation produces dense columnar structures which were found to be better defined under substrate rotation. AFM images show that the surface particles of the samples formed under substrate rotation are smaller and denser than those of a stationary one, leading to smaller grain sizes. XRD results show that all films have hexagonal wurtzite structure and preferred c-axis orientation with a tensile stress along the c-axis. The average optical transmittance was above 90% in UV-Vis region. The lowest resistivity value (8.5×10^?3 Ω·cm) was achieved at ω_S=0 r/min, with a carrier concentration of 1.8×10²⁰ cm^?3, and a Hall mobility of 4.19 cm²/(V·s). For all other samples, the substrate rotation induced changes in the carrier concentration and Hall mobility which resulted in the increasing of electrical resistivity. These results indicate that the morphology, structure, optical and electrical properties of the AZO thin films are strongly affected by the substrate rotation speed.     

Preparation and characterization of ZnO/Cu/ZnO transparent conductive films

ZnO/Cu/ZnO transparent conductive thin films were prepared by RF sputtering deposition of ZnO target and DC sputtering deposition of Cu target on n-type (001) Si and glass substrates at room temperature. The morphology, structure, optical, and electrical properties of the multilayer films were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV/Vis spectrophotometer, and Hall effect measurement system. The influence of Cu layer thickness and the oxygen pressure in sputtering atmosphere on the film properties were studied. ZnO/Cu/ZnO transparent conductive film fabricated in pure Ar atmosphere with 10 nm Cu layer thickness has the best performance: resistivity of 2.3×10-4 Ω·cm, carrier concentration of 6.44×1016cm-2 , mobility of 4.51cm2·(V·s)-1 , and acceptable average transmittance of 80 % in the visible range. The transmittance and conductivity of the films fabricated with oxygen are lower than those of the films fabricated without oxygen, which indicates that oxygen atmosphere does not improve the optical and electrical properties of ZnO/Cu/ ZnO films.     

Characteristics of atomic layer deposited transparent aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films at low temperature

Various aluminum-doped zinc oxide(AZO) films were prepared on Si substrate by atomic layer deposition(ALD) at 100℃. The effect of the composition of AZO films on their electrical, optical characteristics,structural property and surface topography was investigated. The appearance of electrical resistivity shows their semiconducting properties. In most of the visible light band, all the AZO films present transparency of more than 80%. Al doping suppresses the AZO film crystallization.When the Al doping concentration increases up to 3.95 at%, the AZO film has some small multicrystal grains with random orientation. Al doping improves the roughness of i-ZnO film. The root mean square(RMS) roughness of samples prepared by ALD is much smaller than that prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering reported.     

射频反应磁控溅射法制备ZnO:Al透明导电薄膜的光电性能

室温下采用射频(RF)反应磁控溅射技术在玻璃衬底上沉积具有(002)择优取向的透明导电Al掺杂ZnO(AZO)薄膜。XRD结果表明,制备的AZO薄膜为多晶,具有c轴择优取向。退火处理能提高其结晶度。在Al靶射频功率为40W,ZnO靶射频功率为250W,氩气流量为15mL/min的条件下,获得200nm厚的薄膜电阻率约3.8×10-3?·cm,在可见光范围内有很好的光透过率。     

Preparation and properties of tungsten-doped indium oxide thin films

Tungsten-doped indium oxide (IWO) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The effects of sputtering power and growth temperature on the structure, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties of IWO thin films were investigated. The thickness and surface morphology of the films are both closely dependent on the sputtering power and the substrate temperature. The transparency of the films decreases with the increase of the sputtering power but is not seriously influenced by substrate temperature. All the IWO thin film samples have high transmittance in near-infrared spectral range. With either the sputtering power or the growth temperature increases, the resistivity of the film decreases at the beginning and increases after the optimum parameters. The as-deposited IWO films with minimum resistivity of 6. 4× 10-4 Ω·cm were obtained at a growth temperature of 225 ℃ and sputtering power of 40 W, with carrier mobility of 33. 0 cm2· V-1·s-1 and carrier concentration of 2. 8× 1020 cm-3 and the average transmittance of about 81％ in near-infrared region and about 87％ in visible region.     

Temperature-Dependent Properties of Spray-Deposited ITO Thin Films

Sprayed indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films are synthesized by mixing adequate quantities of ethanolic solutions of indium trichloride and stannic chloride at different substrate temperatures. The pyrolytic decomposition temperature affects the properties and morphology of ITO samples. X-ray diffraction results showed that the films are polycrystalline with cubic structure and exhibit preferential orientation along (222) plane. The SEM and AFM studies indicated that the surface morphology of the samples increases with substrate temperature. The typical I₅₀₀ sample is composed of cubic grains and has carrier concentration of 3.26 × 10²⁰ cm^?3 and mobility of 9.77 cm²/V s. The electrical resistivity of ITO films decreased with increasing deposition temperature. The highest figure of merit of film is 4.4 × 10^?3 Ω^?1. Optical absorption studies reveal that films are highly transparent in the visible region and band gap increases with substrate temperature owing to Moss-Burstein effect.     

Epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films deposited on SrO buffered-Si(001) substrates for ferroelectric Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 thin films

SrRuO₃ thin film electrodes are epitaxially grown on SrO buffered-Si(001) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The optimum conditions of the SrO buffer layers for epitaxial SrRuO₃ films are a deposition temperature of 700 °C, deposition pressure of 1 × 10^?6 Torr, and thickness of 6 nm. The 100 nm thick-SrRuO₃ bottom electrodes deposited above 650 °C on SrO buffered-Si (001) substrates have a rms (root mean square) roughness of approximately 5.0 Å and a resistivity of 1700 µω-cm, exhibiting an epitaxial relationship. The 100 nm thick-Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃ thin films deposited at 575 °C have a (00l) preferred orientation and exhibit 2P_r of 40 µC/cm², E_c of 100 kV/cm, and leakage current of about 1 × 10^?7 A/cm² at 1 V. The silicon oxide phase which presents within PZT and SrRuO₃ films, influences the crystallinity of the PZT films and the resistivity of the SrRuO₃ electrodes.     

掺硼和掺磷的氢化纳米硅薄膜及其应用于类叠层太阳电池的研究

采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积法,制备了掺硼和掺磷的氢化纳米硅薄膜(nc-Si∶H),并将其应用于纳米硅薄膜类叠层太阳电池中。分析了薄膜样品的光学性能及表面形貌,结果表明:P型掺硼纳米硅薄膜的光学带隙为2.189 eV,电导率为8.01 S/cm,霍尔迁移率为0.521 cm2/(V.S),载流子浓度为9.61×1019/cm3;N型掺磷纳米硅薄膜的光学带隙为1.994 eV,电导率为1.93 S/cm,霍尔迁移率为1.694 cm2/(V.S),载流子浓度为7.113×1018/cm3;两者的晶粒尺寸都在3～5 nm之间,晶态比都在35%～45%之间,并且颗粒沉积紧密,大小比较均匀。制备了大小为20 mm×20 mm,结构为Al/AZO/p-nc-Si∶H/i-nc-Si∶H/n-nc-Si∶H/p-nc-Si∶H/i-nc-Si∶H/n-c-Si/Al背电极的纳米硅薄膜类叠层太阳电池,通过I-V曲线测试,其VOC达到544.3 mV,ISC达到85.6 mA,填充因子为65.7%。     

Effects of atomic layer deposition temperatures on structural and electrical properties of ZnO films and its thin film transistors

Organic-inorganic thin film transistors (OITFTs) with Al/ZnO/PVP structure on Si substrate were fabricated and studied as to their structural and electrical properties. PVP (poly-4-vinylphenol) organic gate insulator was coated on Si substrate by spin coating method. The ZnO was deposited as an active layer by using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method on PVP/Si substrate at various temperatures ranging from 80 to 140 °C. The structural and electrical properties of ZnO thin films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and by hall-effect measurement system for optimum process of the OITFT. The grain size and carrier concentration of ZnO films increased, and the resistivity decreased as the deposition temperature increased from 80 to 140 °C. The field effect mobility, on/off current ratio and threshold voltage of OITFTs with ZnO active layer deposited at 100 °C were found to be 0.37 cm²/V·s, 5×10² and 5 V, respectively.     

Quantitative optical study of I2-doped polyacetylene

The relation between dopant concentration and adsorption spectra of iodine-doped polyacetylene films is studied quantitatively with films whose iodine contents are analysed by radioactivation analysis. It is shown that the dopant content of thin polyacetylene film can be estimated from the absorption spectra. For heavily iodine-doped film, optical constants are determined from measured infrared, visible and ultraviolet spectra by the aid of the Kramers–Kronig relation. The absorption coefficient of 64% iodine-doped film at the absorption maximum of the mid-gap band, 7500 cm⁻¹, is 2.5 × 10⁵ cm⁻¹ and that of the same film at the adsorption maximum of the pentaiodide ion, 19 000 cm⁻¹, is 2.9 × 10⁵ cm⁻¹, whereas the maximum value for undoped film at 18 500 cm⁻¹ is 1.5 × 10⁵ cm⁻¹ (cis-rich form).     

Filtered vacuum arc deposition of undoped and doped ZnO thin films: Electrical, optical, and structural properties

Filtered vacuum (cathodic) arc deposition (FVAD, FCVD) of metallic and ceramic thin films at low substrate temperature (50-400 °C) is realized by magnetically directing vacuum arc produced, highly ionized, and energetic plasma beam onto substrates, obtaining high quality coatings at high deposition rates. The plasma beam is magnetically filtered to remove macroparticles that are also produced by the arc. The deposited films are usually characterized by their good optical quality and high adhesion to the substrate. Transparent and electrically conducting (TCO) thin films of ZnO, SnO₂, In₂O₃:Sn (ITO), ZnO:Al (AZO), ZnO:Ga, ZnO:Sb, ZnO:Mg and several types of zinc-stannate oxides (ZnSnO₃, Zn₂SnO₄), which could be used in solar cells, optoelectronic devices, and as gas sensors, have been successfully deposited by FVAD using pure or alloyed zinc cathodes. The oxides are obtained by operating the system with oxygen background at low pressure. Post-deposition treatment has also been applied to improve the properties of TCO films.The deposition rate of FVAD ZnO and ZnO:M thin films, where M is a doping or alloying metal, is in the range of 0.2-15 nm/s. The films are generally nonstoichiometric, polycrystalline n-type semiconductors. In most cases, ZnO films have a wurtzite structure. FVAD of p-type ZnO has also been achieved by Sb doping. The electrical conductivity of as-deposited n-type thin ZnO film is in the range 0.2-6 × 10^− 5 Ω m, carrier electron density is 10²³-2 × 10²⁶ m^− 3, and electron mobility is in the range 10-40 cm²/V s, depending on the deposition parameters: arc current, oxygen pressure, substrate bias, and substrate temperature. As the energy band gap of FVAD ZnO films is ∼ 3.3 eV and its extinction coefficient (k) in the visible and near-IR range is smaller than 0.02, the optical transmission of 500 nm thick ZnO film is ∼ 0.90.     

Fracture Toughness and Adhesion of Transparent Al:ZnO Films Deposited on Glass Substrates

Al-doped zinc oxide films (AZO) of different thicknesses were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. Fracture toughness and adhesion of transparent AZO films were measured by indentation in air and water. Fracture toughness of glass is about 0.63 MPa·m^1/2. Under the same normal load, radial crack length shortened with the increase of AZO film thickness. When indented under deionized water, cracks in both glass and AZO films got longer, signifying corresponding decrease in the fracture toughness.     

Optical and electrical properties of zinc oxide thin films with low resistivity via Li-N dual-acceptor doping

Zinc oxide thin films with low resistivity have been deposited on glass substrates by Li-N dual-acceptor doping method via a modified successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction process. The thin films were systematically characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry and fluorescence spectrophotometry. The resistivity of zinc oxide film was found to be 1.04 Ω cm with a Hall mobility of 0.749 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and carrier concentration of 8.02 × 10¹⁸ cm⁻³. The Li-N dual-acceptor doped zinc oxide films showed good crystallinity with prior c-axis orientation, and high transmittance of about 80% in visible range. Moreover, the effects of Li doping level and other parameters on crystallinity, electrical and ultraviolet emission of zinc oxide films were investigated.     

氩气压力对中频磁控溅射制备AZO薄膜性能的影响

在普通玻璃衬底上利用掺杂2%(质量)Al2O3的ZnO陶瓷靶材在中频磁控溅射设备中制备了掺铝氧化锌(ZnO∶Al,AZO)薄膜.利用XRD、XPS、紫外可见分光光度计和Hall测试系统研究了Ar气压力(0.73～2.0 Pa)对AZO透明导电薄膜结构、光学和电学性能的影响.随着Ar气压力的增大,电阻率呈先减小后增大的趋...     

The effect of gallium concentration and substrate temperature on the properties of Ga-Doped ZnO thin films sputtered from powder compacted target

Gallium-doped zinc oxide films with an average thickness of 300 nm were grown on corning glass 1737 substrate by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering using powder compacted target with Ga concentrations of 0 wt.%, 2 wt.%, and 4 wt.%. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the films were investigated. During sputtering, deposition temperature was varied from room temperature to 200°C in 50°C intervals. All films were polycrystalline, having a preferred growth orientation with thec-axis perpendicular to the substrate. By increasing Ga concentration and substrate temperature, the peak height corresponding to the (002) plane was significantly increased. Columnar structure was clearly observed in the film deposited with a Ga concentration of 4 wt.% regardless of deposition temperature. The lowest resistivity achieved was 4×10⁻³ Ωcm at a Ga concentration of 4 wt.% grown at 200°C. All doped films showed an overall transmittance in the visible spectra of above 90%.     

Effects of oxygen partial pressure on film growth and electrical properties of undoped ZnO films with thickness below 100 nm

The dependences of electrical and structural properties on film thickness below 100 nm have been studied on polycrystalline undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films on glass substrates at 200 °C prepared by plasma-assisted electron-beam deposition. From Hall effect measurements, we find that resistivity decreases from 0.47 to 0.02 Ω cm with increasing film thickness, whereas carrier concentration remains almost constant, 1.65-2.0 × 10¹⁹ cm^− 3, Hall mobility increases from 1.7 to 16.7 cm²/Vs with increasing film thickness. From both high-resolution out-of-plane and in-plane X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, we find substantial changes in the lattice parameters with increasing film thickness below 40 nm; a reduction in the lattice parameter of the a-axis and an increase in the lattice parameter of the c-axis. Williamson-Hall analysis reveals an increase in in-plane grain size with increasing film thickness. This indicates that the dominant scattering mechanism that determines electrical properties is a boundary scattering mechanism.     

Synthesis and characterization of sol-gel derived gallium-doped zinc oxide thin films

Gallium-doped ZnO (GZO) semiconductor thin films were prepared by a sol-gel spin coating process. The effects of Ga dopant concentrations on the microstructure, electrical resistivity, optical properties, and photoluminescence (PL) were studied. XRD results showed that all the as-prepared GZO films had a wurtzite phase and a preferred orientation along the [0 0 2] direction. ZnO thin films doped with Ga had lower electrical resistivity, lower RMS roughness, and improved optical transmittance in the visible region. The lowest average electrical resistivity value, 2.8 × 10² Ω cm, was achieved in the ZnO thin films doped with 2% Ga, which exhibited an average transmittance of 91.5%. This study also found that the optical band gap of Ga-doped films was 3.25 eV, slightly higher than that of undoped samples (3.23 eV), and the PL spectra of GZO films showed strong violet-light emission centers at about 2.86 eV (the corresponding wavelength of which is about 434 nm).     

Photoluminescence studies on RF plasma-polymerized thin films

Conjugated polymers in the form of thin films play an important role in the field of materials science due to their interesting properties. Polymer thin films find extensive applications in the fabrication of devices, such as light emitting devices, rechargeable batteries, super capacitors, and are used as intermetallic dielectrics and EMI shieldings. Polymer thin films prepared by plasma-polymerization are highly cross-linked, pinhole free, and their permittivity lie in the ultra low k-regime. Electronic and photonic applications of plasma-polymerized thin films attracted the attention of various researchers. Modification of polymer thin films by swift heavy ions is well established and ion irradiation of polymers can induce irreversible changes in their structural, electrical, and optical properties. Polyaniline and polyfurfural thin films prepared by RF plasma-polymerization were irradiated with 92 MeV silicon ions for various fluences of 1 × 10¹¹ ions cm⁻², 1 × 10¹² ions cm⁻², and 1 × 10¹³ ions cm⁻². FTIR have been recorded on the pristine and silicon ion irradiated polymer thin films for structural evaluation. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra were recorded for RF plasma-polymerized thin film samples before and after irradiation. In this paper the effect of swift heavy ions on the structural and photoluminescence spectra of plasma-polymerized thin films are investigated.     

Numerical analysis on thickness effect of magnetic thin films on conduction noise absorption in microstrip line

Noise absorbing properties of two kinds of magnetic thin films (one is electrically conductive Co-Zr-O granular thin film and the other is Ni-Zn ferrite thin film with high electrical resistivity) are analyzed by the finite element method (FEM) with various film thicknesses. For the Ni-Zn ferrite film with high electrical resistivity (～2 × 10 ² Ωm), a low reflection parameter (S₁₁) value is predicted, and the value does not significantly change with increased film thickness up to 10 μm. However, the transmission parameter (S₂₁) is reduced with increased film thickness due to increased power absorption by magnetic loss. For the Co-Zr-O thin films with low electrical resistivity (～1.6 × 10^?5 Ωm), however, reflection signal is increased with increased film thickness due to diminished sheet resistance of the thin film. Transmission loss is not very sensitive to the thickness of the conductive film. Large power absorption is, therefore, predicted for conductive film of smaller thickness. It is concluded that film thickness is an important control parameter for the achievement of a highly absorptive thin film with increased electrical conductivity.