• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.303-304
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• 2008

Al, N-codoped ZnO(ZnO:N,Al) thin films were deposited on n-type Si(100) substrate at $450^{\circ}C$ with various conditions of ambient gas$(N_2:O_2)$ by DC magnetron sputtering method using ZnO:$Al_2O_3$(2wt%) as a target, and then were annealed at 500, 700, $800^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ gas for one hour. XRD patterns showed that all of the ZnO:N,Al thin films annealed at $80^{\circ}C$ grew with two peaks, which means poor crystallinity of the thin films deposited. Hall effects in Van der Pauw configuration proved that after annealing the films deposited showed low resistivity and high carrier concentration. While the films annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ showed low resistivity of $\sim10^{-2}\Omega$ cm and high carrier concentration of $\sim10^{19}cm^{-3}$.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.169-173
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• 2011

In this study, Al-N codoped p-type zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on Si and homo-buffer layer templates in a mixture of $N_2$ and $O_2$ gas with ceramic ZnO:(2 wt% $Al_2O_3$) as a sputtering target using DC- magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction spectra of two-theta diffraction showed that all films have a predominant (002) peak of ZnO Wurtzite structure. As the $N_2$ fraction in the mixed $N_2$ and $O_2$ gases increased, field emission secondary electron microscopy revealed that the surface appearance of codoped films on Si varied from smooth to textured structure. The p-type ZnO thin films showed carrier concentration in the range of $1.5{\times}10^{15}-2.93{\times}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$, resistivity in the range of 131.2-2.864 ${\Omega}cm$, and mobility in the range of $3.99-31.6\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ respectively.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2013

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering at room temperature and the effect of heat treatment on the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films were examined. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the resistivity decreased and the transmittance improved. All AZO films had c-axis oriented (002) plane of ZnO, regardless of the annealing process employed. As the annealing temperature and time increased, the crystallinity of AZO thin films increased due to the formation of a new ZnO phase in which Al was substituted for Zn. However, at the high annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$, the resistivity of the films increased via separation of Zn and Al from ZnO phase due to their low melting points. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron micrograph and Hall effect measurement confirmed the formation of uniformly distributed new grains of ZnO substituted with Al. The variation of Al contents in AZO films was shown to be the primary factor for the changes in resistivity and carrier concentration of the films.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.366-370
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• 2014

ZnO:Al transparent conductive films were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering technique and annealed by rapid thermal annealing system. The influence of annealing time on the structural, electrical, and optical properties of ZnO:Al thin films was investigated by atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Hall method and optical transmission spectroscopy. As the annealing time increases from 0 to 5 min, the crystallinity is improved, the root main square surface roughness is decreased and the sheet resistance is decreased. The lowest sheet resistance of ZnO:Al thin film is 90 ohm/sq. The reduction of sheet resistance is caused by increasing carrier concentration due to substituent Al ion. All films are transparent up to 80% in the visible wavelength range and the adsorption edge is a blue-shift due to Burstein-Moss effect with increasing annealing time.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.575-579
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• 2008

Al-doped p-type ZnO films were fabricated on n-Si (100) and homo-buffer layers in pure oxygen at $450^{\circ}C$ of by RF magnetron sputtering. Target was ZnO ceramic mixed with 2 wt% $Al_2O_3$. XRD spectra show that the Al-doped ZnO thin films have ZnO crystal structure and homo-buffer layers are beneficial to Al-doped ZnO films to grow along c-axis. Hall Effect experiments with Van der Pauw configuration show that p-type carrier concentrations are ranged from $1.66{\times}10^{16}$ to $4.04{\times}10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$, mobilities from 0.194 to $2.3\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ and resistivities from 7.97 to $18.4\;{\Omega}cm$. p-type sample has density of $5.40\;cm^{-3}$ which is smaller than theoretically calculated value of $5.67\;cm^{-3}$. XPS spectra show that Ols has O-O and Zn-O structures and Al2p has only Al-O structure. P-ZnO:Al/n-ZnO:Al junctions were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. V-I curves show that the p-n junctions have rectifying characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.408-409
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• 2007

Al-doped p-type ZnO films were fabricated on n-Si (100) and homo-buffer layers in pure oxygen at $450^{\circ}C$ by RF magnetron sputtering. Target was ZnO ceramic mixed with 2wt% $Al_2O_3$. XRD spectra show that the Al-doped ZnO thin films have ZnO crystal structure and homo-buffer layers are beneficial to Al-doped ZnO films to grow along c-axis. Hall Effect experiments with Van der Pauw configuration show that p-type carrier concentrations are ranged from $1.66{\times}10^{16}\;to\;4.04{\times}10^{18}cm^{-3}$, mobilities from 0.194 to $2.3cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ and resistivities from 7.97 to $18.4{\Omega}cm$. P-type sample has density of $5.40cm^{-3}$ which is smaller than theoretically calculated value of $5.67cm^{-3}$. XPS spectra show that O1s has O-O and Zn-O structures and A12p has only Al-O structure. P-ZnO:Al/n-ZnO:Al junctions were fabricated by magnetron sputtering. V-I curves show that the p-n junctions have rectifying characteristics.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2001.07c
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• pp.1478-1480
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• 2001

ZnO : Al transparent conductive thin films were prepared by facing targets sputtering system with a DC power supply which can deposit a high quality thin films and control deposition condition in all range of $O_2$ gas ratio using ZnO target containing 8 at% of Al. Sputtering was carried out at a substrate temperature of R T with a DC current of 0.6 A and $O_2$ flow rate of 0 $\sim$ 0.9. The characteristics of ZnO : Al thin films was investigated by $\alpha$-step, four point probe, X-ray diffraction and UV/VIS spectrometer.

• 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.