Transparent Conducting Al-Zn-O Films Prepared at Low Temperature by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

50∼465-nm-thick Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO: 1.5 wt.%Al2O3) films have been prepared on glass substrates at low temperature by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using ArF excimer laser and Nd:YAG laser. During the deposition process, oxygen with partial pressure of 0-1.6 Pa was introduced in the chamber. As a result, with oxygen partial pressure of 0.5 Pa, an excellent optical transmittance in the visible wavelength range was obtained for 50 to 465-nm-thick AZO films and the lowest resistivity of 3.16×10−4 Ω•cm was obtained for approximately 405-nm-thick AZO film. FE-SEM and AFM observations revealed that for 50-nm-thick AZO film, some fine particles like the crystal-embryo were recognized on the surfaces. With increased film thickness, the value of surface roughness increased because of large grain size.