Deposition of aluminum-doped zinc oxide films by RF magnetron sputtering and study of their surface characteristics

Transparent conductive, undoped and aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared on the glass substrates at deposition temperature in the range of room temperature (R.T.) similar to300 degreesC by RF magnetron sputtering. Highly oriented AZO films in the [002] direction were obtained with specifically designed ZnO targets. A systematic study on the dependence of deposition parameters on the structural, optical and electrical properties of the as-grown AZO films was mainly investigated in this work. The AZO film prepared at R.T. with 4 wt.% Al(OH)(3) doped a ZnO target under a target-to-substrate distance (D) of 45 mm, has not only a high transmittance of 85% at the visible region but has also a resistivity of 9.8 X 10(-2) Ohm(.)cm. In addition, the resistivity of AZO films increases with increasing T-sub. We investigated that this tendency was altered after 4 wt.% doping. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.