Conducting ZnO Thin Film Fabrication by UV-enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

We fabricate the conductive zinc oxide(ZnO) thin film using UV-enhanced atomic layer deposition. ZnO is semiconductor with a wide band gap(3.37eV) and transparent in the visible region. ZnO can be deposited with various method, such as metal organic chemical vapour deposition, magnetron sputtering and pulsed laser ablation deposition. In this experiment, ZnO thin films was deposited by atomic layer deposition using diethylzinc (DEZ) and D.I water as precursors with UV irradiation during water dosing. As a function of UV exposure time, the resistivity of ZnO thin films decreased dramatically. We were able to confirm that UV irradiation is one of the effective way to improve conductivity of ZnO thin film. The resistivity was investigated by 4 point probe. Additionally, we confirm the thin film composition is ZnO by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We anticipate that this UV-enhanced ZnO thin film can be applied to electronics or photonic devices as transparent electrode.