Fabrication and vacuum annealing of transparent conductive AZO thin films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

Abstract Using highly conductive Al-doped ZnO (AZO) ceramic target, (0 0 2)-oriented transparent conductive AZO thin films are prepared by DC planar magnetron sputtering deposition on glass sheet substrate. Structural, electrical and optical properties of the films deposited at different temperatures and subsequently annealed at 400°C for 2 h under 10 −3  Pa are characterized with various techniques. Experimental results show that the electrical resistivity of AZO thin films deposited at 320°C can be as low as 1.5×10 −4  Ω cm with post-deposition annealing. The annealing process leads to improvement of (0 0 2) orientation, wider band gap, increased carrier concentration and blue shift of absorption edge in the transmission spectra of AZO thin films.

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