Characterization of aluminium doped zinc oxide thin films deposited on polymeric substrates

We report, for the first time, results on transparent ZnO:Al thin films deposited on polyester (Mylar type D, 100 mum thickness) substrates at room temperature by magnetron sputtering. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the deposited films have been studied, The samples are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and a strong crystallographic c-axis orientation (002) perpendicular to the substrate surface. The ZnO:Al thin films with 83% transmittance in the visible region and a resistivity as low as 3.6 x 10(-2) Omega cm have been obtained, as deposited. The obtained results are comparable to those obtained on glass substrates, opening a new field of low cost, light weight, small volume, flexible and unbreakable large area optoelectronic devices. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.