• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.629-633
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• 2007

This study examined the effect of growth temperature on the electrical and optical properties of hydrogenated Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO:H) thin films deposited by rf magnetron sputtering using a ceramic target (98 wt.% ZnO, 2 wt.% $Al_2O_3$). Various AZO films on glass were prepared by changing the substrate temperature from room temperature to $200^{\circ}C$. It was shown that intentionally incorporated hydrogen plays an important role on the electrical properties of AZO : H films by increasing free carrier concentration. As a result, in the 2% $H_2$ addition at the growth temperature of $150^{\circ}C$, resistivity of $3.21{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, mobility of $21.9cm^2/V-s$, electric charge carrier concentration of $9.35{\times}10^{20}cm^{-3}$ was obtained. The AZO : H films show a hexagonal wurtzite structure preferentially oriented in the (002) crystallographic direction.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.328-333
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• 2004

Transparent ZnO:Al conductor films for the optoelectronic devices were deposited by using the capacitively coupled DC magnetron sputtering method. The effect of Al doping concentration and discharge power on the electrical and optical properties of the films was studied. The film resistivity of $8.5${\times}$10^{-4}$ $\Omega$-cm was obtained at the discharge power of 40 W with the ZnO target doped with 2 wt% $Al_2$$_O3$. The transmittance of the 840 nm thick film was 91.7% in the visible waves. Increasing doping concentration of 3 wt% $Al_2$$O_3$ in ZnO target results in significant decrease of film resistivity, which may be due to the formation of $Al_2$$O_3$ particles in the as-deposited ZnO:Al film and the reduced ZnO grain sizes. Increasing DC power from 40 to 60 W increases deposition rate by more than 50%, but can induce high defect density in the film, resulting in higher film resistivity.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.267-272
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• 2007

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were grown on glass substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The effects of oxygen flow ratio, which was used for a sputtering gas, on the AZO thin films were investigated by using the X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Hall effects measurement. The AZO thin film, deposited with oxygen flow ratio of 0% at the growth temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, showed a strongly c-axis preferred orientation and the lowest resistivity of $6.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}cm$. The ZnO (002) diffraction peak indicated a tendency to decrease substantially with increasing the oxygen flow ratio. Furthermore, as the oxygen flow ratio was decreased, the carrier concentration and the hall mobility were increased, but the electrical resistivity was decreased.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.330-330
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• 2007

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2011

ZnO:Al thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering with various base pressure, and their structural, optical, and electrical properties were studied. The influence of the base pressure on the ZnO:Al thin film was confirmed and a high-quality thin film was obtained by controlling the base pressure. In all Al-doped ZnO thin films, the preferred orientation of (002) plane was observed and light transmittance in visible region (400 nm~800 nm) had above 85%. With decreasing of base pressure, crystallinity, resistivity, and figure of merit were improved. The improvement of resistivity with base pressure was attributed to the change of grain size.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.89-92
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• 2009

High-quality Al-N doped p-type ZnO thin films were deposited on Si and buffer layer/Si by DC magnetron sputtering in a mixture of $N_2$ and $O_2$ gas. The target was ceramic ZnO mixed with $Al_2O_3$ (2 wt%). The p-type ZnO thin films showed a carrier concentration in the range of $1.5{\times}10^{15}{\sim}2.93{\times}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$, resistivity in the range of 131.2${\sim}$2.864 ${\Omega}cm$, mobility in the range of 3.99${\sim}$31.6 $cm^2V^{-1}s^{-l}$, respectively. It was easier to dope p-type ZnO films on Si substrates than on buffer layer/Si. The film grown on Si showed the highest quality of photoluminescence (PL) characteristics. The Al donor energy level depth $(E_d)$ of Al-N codoped ZnO films was reduced to about 50 meV, and the N acceptor energy level depth $(E_a)$ was reduced to 63 meV.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.257-261
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• 2013

We have studied structural, optical, and electrical properties of the Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films using RF magnetron sputtering with various working pressure. To find optimal properties of AZO for transparent conducting oxides, the working pressure in sputtering process was varied as 0.07 Torr, 0.02 Torr, and 0.007 Torr, respectively. As working pressure increased, the crystallinity of AZO thin film was improved, the surface roughness of AZO thin film decreased. The transmittance of the film was over 80% in the visible light range regardless of the changes in working pressure. In case of 0.007 Torr, best electrical properties was shown due to the reduction of oxygen absorption by decreasing surface roughness.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.799-808
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• 1995

Transparent conductive films of aluminium doped zinc oxide (AZO) have been prepared by using the DC magnetron sputtering with the ZnO : Al (Al2O3 2 wt%) oxide target oriented to c-axis. Electrical and optical properties depended upon the O2/Ar gas ratio. The optical transmittance and sheet resistance of the AZO coated glass was 60~65% and 75Ω/$\square$, respectively at the O2/Ar gas ratio of 0. With the increase of the oxygen partial pressure to 2.0$\times$10-2, they were increased to the values of 81% and 1kΩ/$\square$, respectively. The films with the resistivities of 1.2~1.4$\times$10-3 Ω.cm, mobilities of 11~13 $\textrm{cm}^2$/V.sec and carrier concentrations of 3.5$\times$1020~4.0$\times$1020/㎤ were produced at the optimum O2/Ar gas ratio, which was 0.5$\times$10-2~1.0$\times$10-2. According to XRD analysis, the films have only one peak corresponding to the (002) plane, which indicates that there is a strong preferred orientation of the films. The grain size of ZnO films were calculated to 200~320 $\AA$, which was increased with the O2/Ar gas ratio and Ar gas flowrate.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.1469-1472
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• 2006

We investigated the electrical and optical properties of ZnO:Al thin films as a function of the thermal process conditions. The film was prepared by RF magnetron sputtering followed by annealing in a box furnace in air. An ZnO:Al (98:2) alloy with the purity of 99.99% (3 inch diameter) was used as the target material. The electrical properties of the transparent electrode, exhibited surface oxidation as a result of rapid oxygen absorption with increasing annealing temperature. The processed ZnO:Al films and commercial ITO(indium-tin-oxide) were applied to an OLED stack to investigate the current density and luminescence efficiency. The efficiency of the device using the ZnO:Al electrode was higher than that from the device using the ITO electrode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.525-528
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• 2001

ZnO:Al thin film can be used as a transparent conducting oxide(TCO) which has low electric resistivity and high optical transmittance for the front electrode of amorphous silicon solar cells and display devices. This study of electrical, crystallographic and optical properties of Al doped ZnO thin films prepared by Facing Targets Sputtering (FTS), where strong internal magnets were contained in target holders to confine the plasma between the targets, is described. Optimal transmittance and resistivity was obtained by controlling flow rate of O$_2$ gas and substrate temperature. When the of gas rate of 0.3 and substrate temperature 200$^{\circ}C$ , ZnO:Al thin film had strongly oriented c-axis and lower resistivity(<10$\^$-4/Ω-cm).