<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Highly conductive gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) transparent thin films were deposited on glass substrates by RF mag­netron sputtering. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), four-point probe and UV-Vis spectrophotometer, respectively. The effect of growth temperature on the structure and optoelectrical properties of the films was investigated. The results demonstrate that high quality GZO films oriented with their crystal­lographic c-axis perpendicular to the substrates are obtained. The structure and optoelectrical properties of the films are highly dependent on the growth temperature. It is found that with increasing growth temperature, the average visible transmittance of the deposited films is enhanced and the residual stress in the thin films is obviously relaxed. The GZO films deposited at the growth temperature of 400°C, which have the largest grain size (74.3 nm), the lowest electrical resistivity (1.31×10-3 Ω·cm) and the maximum figure of merit (1.46×1O-2Ω-1), exhibit the best optoelectrical properties. Furthermore, the optical proper­ties of the deposited films were determined by the optical characterization methods and the optical energy-gaps were evaluated by extrapolation method. A blue shift of the optical energy gap is observed with an increase in the growth temperature. </abstract>

Highly conductive gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) transparent thin films were deposited on glass substrates by RF mag­netron sputtering. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), four-point probe and UV-Vis spectrophotometer, respectively. The effect of growth temperature on the structure and optoelectrical properties of the films was investigated. The results demonstrate that high quality GZO films oriented with their crystal­lographic c-axis perpendicular to the substrates are obtained. The structure and optoelectrical properties of the films are highly dependent on the growth temperature. It is found that with increasing growth temperature, the average visible transmittance of the deposited films is enhanced and the residual stress in the thin films is obviously relaxed. The GZO films deposited at the growth temperature of 400°C, which have the largest grain size (74.3 nm), the lowest electrical resistivity (1.31×10-3 Ω·cm) and the maximum figure of merit (1.46×1O-2Ω-1), exhibit the best optoelectrical properties. Furthermore, the optical proper­ties of the deposited films were determined by the optical characterization methods and the optical energy-gaps were evaluated by extrapolation method. A blue shift of the optical energy gap is observed with an increase in the growth temperature.

Preparation, structure and optical properties of transparent conducting gallium-doped zinc oxide thin films

Center of Experiment Teaching, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China

College of Electronic Information Engineering, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China

Laboratory of Intelligent Wireless Communications, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, P. R. China

Materials Science-Poland

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Highly conductive gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) transparent thin films were deposited on glass substrates by RF mag­netron sputtering. The deposited films...

Preparation, structure and optical properties of transparent conducting gallium-doped zinc oxide thin films

Published Online: Aug 30, 2016

Page range: 470 - 481

Received: Jun 27, 2013

Accepted: Mar 28, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/msp-2015-0065

Keywords
zinc oxide, thin films, magnetron sputtering, optical properties

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Preparation, structure and optical properties of transparent conducting gallium-doped zinc oxide thin films

Published Online: Aug 30, 2016

Page range: 470 - 481

Received: Jun 27, 2013

Accepted: Mar 28, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/msp-2015-0065

Keywordszinc oxide, thin films, magnetron sputtering, optical properties

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
zinc oxide, thin films, magnetron sputtering, optical properties