Pressure effect on structural and electrical properties of AZO thin films annealed in N2/H2 atmosphere

Publication date: Available online 20 August 2018Source: Materials LettersAuthor(s): Baofu Hu, Jian Xu, Jian Wang, Bingguo Liu, Baoli DuAbstractTransparent and conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were developed using a sol-gel method and annealed in 95 N2/5 H2 forming gas. The pressure effects of forming gas on the structural and electrical properties, and the underlying mechanisms were investigated. XPS analysis reveals that the fraction of the chemisorbed oxygen in the annealed film in 0.01 MPa 95 N2/5 H2 did not exhibit any apparent change compared to the non-annealed films, while the oxygen vacancy content exhibited a remarkable increase. When pressure goes up to 0.03 MPa, significant changes of both the oxygen vacancy concentration and the chemisorbed oxygen content were observed in the annealed films. At 0.03 MPa, the films displayed a perfect orientation along the c-axis and exhibited the lowest resistivity of 1.6×10−3 Ω·cm. Our study shows that it is possible to optimize the oxygen distribution and improve the electrical property of AZO film by adjustment of the forming gas pressure.
Source: Materials Letters - Category: Materials Science Source Type: research