Solution Processed AZO Thin Films Prepared from Different Source Materials

Authors Sana Ullah1,3, Fabio De Matteis1, Massimiliano Lucci2, Ivan Davoli2
Affiliations

1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico, 1, 00133, Roma, Italy

2 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 1, 00133, Roma, Italy

3 Department of Basic Sciences & Humanities, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology, Abu Dhabi Road, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan

Е-mail sanaullahzafar@yahoo.com, sana.ullah@kfueit.edu.pk
Issue Volume 9, Year 2017, Number 3
Dates Received 21 January 2017; published online 30 June 2017
Citation Sana Ullah, Fabio De Matteis, Massimiliano Lucci, Ivan Davoli, J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 9 No 3, 03010 (2017)
DOI 10.21272/jnep.9(3).03010
PACS Number(s) 81.15. – z, 67.60.gj
Keywords AZO, Solution synthesis, Spin coating (5) , Rapid thermal annealing (2) , Transparent conducting oxides (3) .
Annotation Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide films were spin-coated from 1 mol% doped precursors obtained from different source materials optimizing post-deposition annealing in controlled atmospheres. AZO films were provided with pre-deposition heating at 500 °C in ambient while post-deposition rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in vacuum and in N2-5%H2 was provided at 400, 500 and 600 °C. Dominant ZnO c-axis oriented AZO films with typical wurtzite crystal structure were obtained. Aluminum nitrate source materials resulted in comparatively higher conductivity AZO films. We conclude post-deposition annealing in controlled environments helped increase oxygen vacancies and enhanced grain growth and crystallinity resulting in increased conductivity. Optical measurements showed an average total transmittance (%T) of about 85 % in the visible for all the films with a direct allowed band gap of about 3.2.

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