Effect of solution concentration on the structural, optical and conductive properties of ZnO thin films prepared by sol–gel method

ZnO thin films with different solution concentrations (0.1–0.9 mol/L) were prepared by a simple sol–gel dip-coating technique. X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, Hall effect measurements and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were employed to investigate the effect of solution concentration on the structural,optical and electrical conductive properties of the ZnO thin films. The results showed that the ZnO thin films preferentially oriented along the (002) direction at higher solution concentration. The careful study of the optical and electrical conductive properties showed that the resistivity decreased monotonously, while the transmittance increased first and then decreased when solution concentrations changed from 0.1 to 0.9 mol/L. Photoluminescence spectra indicated that the defect-related blue emission was increased with the enhancement of solution concentration. The mechanism of the blue emission, and the reasons why high solution concentration was favorable for forming high c-axis oriented ZnO thin films and obtaining low resistivity were also discussed in detail.     

Annealing effect of ZnO/Au/ZnO transparent conductive films

Au intermediate ZnO (ZAZ) thin films were prepared by radio frequency and direct current magnetron sputtering on glass substrates and then vacuum annealed. The thickness of each layer of the ZAZ films was set at 50 nm, 3 nm, and 47 nm, respectively. The structural, electrical, and optical properties of ZAZ films were investigated with respect to the variation of annealing temperature.As-deposited AZO films showed X-ray diffraction peaks corresponding to ZnO (002) and Au (111) planes and those peak intensities increased with post-deposition vacuum annealing. The optical and electrical properties of the films were strongly influenced by post-deposition annealing. Although the optical transmittance of the films deteriorated with an Au interlayer, as-deposited ZAZ films showed a low resistivity of 2.0 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm, and the films annealed at 300 °C had a lower resistivity of 9.8 × 10⁻⁵ Ω cm. The work function of the films increased with annealing temperature, and the films annealed at 300 °C had a higher work function of 4.1 eV than the films annealed at 150 °C. The experimental results indicate that vacuum-annealed ZAZ films are attractive candidates for use as transparent electrodes in large area electronic applications such as solar cells and large area displays.     

Influence of O2 pressure on the properties of heavily-doped ZnO:Sb thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Heavily Sb-doped ZnO films were deposited on the glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to characterize their microstructures and chemical valence states. Transmittance spectra and Hall measurements were used to evaluate their optical and electrical properties. It was found that the as-prepared ZnO:Sb thin films showed a single-hexagonal-phase structure, with the optical band gap tuning from 3.33 to 3.11 eV. The variation in the band gap was attributed to a large co-axis strain in the alloy films induced by Sb incorporation. Besides, the alloy films showed a semi-insulated characteristic with high resistivity of ~10⁴ Ω cm, which was possibly related to a compensation of intrinsic defects.     

Transparent conducting ZnO : Al films on different organic substrates deposited by r.f. sputtering

1. IntroductionThansparellt conducting zinc oxide films have beenextensively studied in recede years, because of theirlow material cost, relatively low deposition temperature and stability in hydrogen plasma compared withITO and SnOZ films[1]. These adVatages are of considerable interest for electrrvoptical conversion device.Compared with undoped ZnO, Al-doped ZnO filmshave lobed resistivity and better stability. nansparellt conducting films deposited on organic substrateshave many lments…     

Structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown on the AAO templates

Structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown on Al substrate and anodic alumina oxide (AAO) templates by rf magnetron reactive sputtering deposition were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic-force microscope (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL). We found that ZnO thin films on Al substrate show good C-axis orientation, while the orientation of ZnO film on AAO templates is disordered, this due to the fact that the crystalline of ZnO is greatly influenced by surface morphology of substrates. PL measurements show a blue band in the wavelength range of 400–500 nm caused by the interstitial Zn in the ZnO films. The intensity of emission peak of ZnO films deposited on AAO templates increases compared with that on the Al substrate. Combining electrical resistivity and carrier concentration measurements, we found that that the blue emission intensity is consistent with the concentration for the interstitial zinc in the ZnO films.     

Transparent Conducting ZnO:A1 Films on Different Organic Substrates Deposited by r.f. Sputtering

Transparent conducting ZnO:AI films with good adhesion, low resistivity and high transmittance have been prepared on polyptopylene adipate (PPA), polyisocyanate (PI) and polyester substrates by r.f. magnetron sputtering. The structural, electrical and optical properties of the obtained films were studied. The polycrystalline ZnO:AI films with resistivity as Iow as 5.76×10-4 Ω·cm,carrier concentration 9.06×1020 cm-a and Hall mobility 11.98 cm2 V-1s-1 were produced on PPA substrate by controlling the deposition parameters. The average transmittance of films on PPA is ～80% in the wavelength range of visible spectrum. The films on PPA substrates have better electrical and optical properties compared with the filmson other kinds of substrates.     

Effect of annealing on the electrical and optical properties of electron beam evaporated ZnO thin films

Zinc oxide thin films have been grown on (100)-oriented silicon substrate at a temperature of 100 °C by reactive e-beam evaporation. Structural, electrical and optical characteristics have been compared before and after annealing in air by measurements of X-ray diffraction, real and imaginary parts of the dielectric coefficient, refractive index and electrical resistivity. X-ray diffraction measurements have shown that ZnO films are highly c-axis-oriented with a full width at half maximum (FWMH) lower than 0.5°. The electrical resistivity increases from 10⁻² Ω cm to reach a value about 10⁹ Ω cm after annealing at 750 °C. The FWHM decreases after annealing treatment, which proves the crystal quality improvement. Ellipsometer measurements show the improvement of the refractive index and the real dielectric coefficient after annealing treatment at 750 °C of the ZnO films evaporated by electron beam. Atomic force microscopy shows that the surfaces of the electron beam evaporated ZnO are relatively smooth. Finally, a comparative study on structural and optical properties of the electron beam evaporated ZnO and the rf magnetron deposited one is discussed.     

直流磁控溅射法制备掺钛氧化锌透明导电薄膜

采用直流磁控溅射法在室温水冷玻璃衬底上制备出高质量的掺钛氧化锌(ZnO:Ti)透明导电薄膜,研究了溅射功率对ZnO:Ti薄膜结构、形貌和光电性能的影响,结果表明,溅射功率对ZnO:Ti薄膜的结构和电阻率有显著影响.XRD表明,ZnO:Ti薄膜为六角纤锌矿结构的多晶薄膜,且具有c轴择优取向.当溅射功率为130W时,实验制备的ZnO:Ti薄膜的电阻率具有最小值9.67×10~(-5)Ω·cm.实验制备的ZnO:Ti薄膜具有良好的附着性能,可见光区平均透过率超过91%.ZnO:Ti薄膜可以用作薄膜太阳能电池和液晶显示器的透明电极.     

Transparent and conducting ZnO films prepared by reactive pulsed laser deposition

Undoped ZnO films were prepared on glass substrates without any post-deposition heat treatment using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser ablation of Zn target in the presence of oxygen as reactive atmosphere. Structural, optical, and electrical properties of these films have been investigated as functions of oxygen pressure during deposition. Transparent conducting ZnO films, formed at 120 torr of oxygen pressure, showed an electrical resistivity of 0.27 Ωcm, a mean optical transmittance of 80%, and an optical band gap of 3.25 eV.     

溅射功率对ZnO：Si透明导电薄膜性能的影响

采用直流磁控溅射法在室温玻璃基片上制备出了掺硅氧化锌（ZnO：Si）透明导电薄膜,研究了溅射功率对ZnO：Si薄膜结构、形貌、光学及电学性能的影响,实验结果表明,溅射功率对ZnO：Si薄膜的生长速率、结晶质量及电学性能有很大影响,而对其光学性能影响不大。实验制备的ZnO：LSi薄膜为六方纤锌矿结构的多晶薄膜,且具有垂直于基片方向的c轴择优取向。当溅射功率从45W增加到105W时,薄膜的晶化程度提高、晶粒尺寸增大,薄膜的电阻率减小;当溅射功率为105W时,薄膜的电阻率达到最小值3．83~104n·cm,其可见光透过率为94．41％。实验制备的ZnO：Si薄膜可以用作薄膜太阳能电池和液晶显示器的透明电极。     

ZnO thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on soda lime glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) in an oxygen-reactive atmosphere. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the as-prepared thin films were studied in dependence of substrate temperature and oxygen pressure. High quality polycrystalline ZnO films with hexagonal wurtzite structure were deposited at substrate temperatures of 100 and 300 °C. The RMS roughness of the deposited oxide films was found to be in the range 2-9 nm and was only slightly dependent on substrate temperature and oxygen pressure. Electrical measurements indicated a decrease of film resistivity with the increase of substrate temperature and the decrease of oxygen pressure. The ZnO films exhibited high transmittance of 90% and their energy band gap and thickness were in the range 3.26-3.30 eV and 256-627 nm, respectively.     

Structural and optical properties of Ti-doped ZnO thin films prepared by the cathodic vacuum arc technique with different annealing processes

Highly transparent Ti-doped ZnO thin films were prepared on glass substrates at a deposition rate of approximately 33 nm/min using the cathodic vacuum arc technique with a Zn target power of 550 W and a Ti target power of 750 W, respectively. X-ray diffraction measurements have shown that the Ti-doped ZnO thin film with a vacuum post-annealing condition is c-axis oriented but an amorphous phase at the other post-annealing atmosphere and as-deposited condition. Transmittance measurements show that the best optical quality of the Ti-doped ZnO thin films occurred at a post-annealing atmosphere of N₂/H₂ mixed gases. Additionally, the optical transmittance of all films has been found more than 85% in a range of 500-700 nm. The lowest electrical resistivity was 3.48 × 10⁻³ Ω cm, obtained on as-deposited films. However, the post-annealing condition greatly increased the resistivity.     

Indium-doped ZnO thin films deposited by the sol–gel technique

Conducting and transparent indium-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on sodocalcic glass substrates by the sol–gel technique. Zinc acetate and indium chloride were used as precursor materials. The electrical resistivity, structure, morphology and optical transmittance of the films were analyzed as a function of the film thickness and the post-deposition annealing treatments in vacuum, oxygen or argon. The obtained films exhibited a (002) preferential growth in all the cases. Surface morphology studies showed that an increase in the films' thickness causes an increase in the grain size. Films with 0.18 μm thickness, prepared under optimal deposition conditions followed by an annealing treatment in vacuum showed electrical resistivity of 1.3 × 10^− 2 Ωcm and optical transmittance higher than 85%. These results make ZnO:In thin films an attractive material for transparent electrodes in thin film solar cells.     

Improvement in optical and electrical properties of ZnO films by neodymium and aluminum co-doping

Neodymium and aluminum co-doping effect on optical and electrical properties of ZnO films with Al/Zn ratio of 0.01 were studied. The films were deposited by chemical solution deposition and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–Vis and luminescent spectrophotometry, and electrical measurement. The films showed nanoscale particle size increasing as increased Nd/Al ratio, and obvious variations in transmittance of the UV–Visible light range, band gap, and resistivity with changing of Nd/Al ratio. The optimal optical and electrical properties were achieved when Nd/Al ratio was 0.0039. The photoluminescence measurement indicated that the films showed strong near band gap emission and weak emissions related to intrinsic defect.     

The stability of zinc oxide transparent electrodes fabricated by R.F. magnetron sputtering

The stability of the electrical, optical and mechanical properties of sputtered zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films with resistivities from 10^?2 to 10^?4 ωcm were investigated. No significant changes in these properties are observed for ZnO films exposed to air at room temperature for 10 months. A change in the electrical resistance of the ZnO films with temperature up to 400 °C is observed in various ambients such as vacuum, inert gases and air. After heat treatment in these ambients at 400 °C, the resistivity of the films increased by one to ten orders of magnitude. The increased resistivity can be returned to the resistivity of the virgin state, within one order of magnitude, by heat treatment in a hydrogen ambient at temperatures near 400 °C. For practical use of ZnO films at high temperatures, the increase in the resistivity might become a disadvantage for ZnO transparent electrodes fabricated by r.f. magnetron sputtering.     

Investigation of optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on Si substrates using various working pressures by magnetron sputter. The resistivity of the deposited ZnO films decreases with working pressure, and the resistivity of 4.3 × 10⁻³ Ω cm can be obtained without post annealing. According to the optical transmittance measurements, the optical transmittance above 90% in the wavelength longer than 430 nm and about 80% in the wavelength of 380 nm can be found. Using time-resolved photoluminescence measurement, the carrier lifetime increases with working pressure due to the reduction of nonradiative recombination rate. The reduction of nonradiative recombination rate is originated from the decrease of oxygen vacancies in the ZnO films deposited at a higher working pressure. This result is verified by the photoluminescence measurements. Besides, by increasing the working pressure, the absorption coefficient was decreased and the associated optical energy gap of ZnO thin films was increased.     

Study on the doping effect of Li-doped ZnO film

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an excellent piezoelectric material with simple composition. ZnO film is applied to the piezoelectric devices because it has high resistivity and highly oriented direction at c-axis. Structural and electrical properties in ZnO films are influenced by deposition conditions. Lithium-doped ZnO (LZO) films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering method using Li-doped ZnO ceramic target with various ratios (0 to 10 wt.% LiCl dopant). LZO films revealed high resistivity of above 10⁷ Ω cm with smooth surface when they were deposited with 4% LiCl-doped ZnO target under room temperature. However, their c-axis orientation was worse than the c-axis orientation of pure ZnO films. We have also studied on structural, optical and electrical properties of the ZnO films by XRD, AFM, SEM, XPS, and 4-point probe analyses. We concluded that LZO films were deposited with 4 wt.% LiCl-doped ZnO target and were apposite for piezoelectrical application.     

ZnO/CdTe heterojunctions prepared by r.f. sputtering

ZnO/CdTe heterojunctions were prepared by r.f. sputtering of ZnO films onto p-type CdTe single crystals. The ZnO deposition was carried out using a ZnO target and an Ar-H₂ mixture as the sputtering gas. The ZnO films obtained under these conditions show a very good optical transmission (about 90%) between 0.4 and 0.8 μm and a low resistivity. The electrical properties of the ZnO/CdTe heterojunctions were studied by means of current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements carried out at different temperatures. The dark I-V characteristics show that a multistep tunnelling mechanism controls the transport of charge carriers across the junction. The presence of interface states was shown to play an important role in the electrical properties of the junction. Tentative measurements of the solar energy conversion efficiency gave a value of about 3.5% without any attempt at optimization of the cell parameters.     

Investigation of dual ion beam sputtered transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO films

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) transparent conducting films were deposited on sapphire (0001) substrates using dual ion beam sputtering deposition system. The impact of growth temperature on the structural, morphological, elemental, optical, and electrical properties was thoroughly investigated and reported. X-ray diffraction measurements explicitly confirmed that all GZO films had (002) preferred crystal orientation. The film deposited at 400 °C exhibited the narrowest full-width at half-maximum value of 0.24° for (002) crystalline plane and the lowest room temperature electrical resistivity of 4.11 × 10^?3 Ω cm. The Raman spectra demonstrated the vibrational modes at 576 and 650–670 cm^?1, associated with native oxygen vacancies and elemental Ga doping in ZnO lattice, respectively. All doped films showed an overall transmittance of above 95 % in the visible spectra. A correlation between structural, optical, elemental, and electrical properties with GZO growth temperature was established.     

Effects of working pressure on the electrical and optical properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films

Zinc oxide films have been actively investigated as transparent electrode materials for optical displays. We report the effect of the working pressure on the electrical and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films deposited by D.C. magnetron sputtering. The films were deposited in working pressures ranging from 1 mTorr to 10 mTorr. The effect of the working pressure was determined and the mechanism of the electrical and optical properties was explained. To understand the relationship between the electrical and optical properties of the films and film structure, the film density, resistivity, carrier concentration, carrier mobility, mean free path and optical band-gap in the films were measured as a function of the working pressure.