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A Revised Growth Model for Transparent Conducting Ga Doped ZnO Films: Improving Crystallinity by Means of Buffer Layers
Author(s) -
Abduev Aslan,
Akmedov Akhmed,
Asvarov Abil,
Chiolerio Alessandro
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plasma processes and polymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1612-8869
pISSN - 1612-8850
DOI - 10.1002/ppap.201400230
Subject(s) - materials science , dopant , thin film , doping , crystallinity , sputter deposition , nucleation , microstructure , layer (electronics) , optoelectronics , indium , ceramic , nanotechnology , sputtering , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry
Ga‐doped ZnO (GZO) thin films are recently raising both scientific and industrial interests, due to the lack of natural resources. Indium is a crucial raw material, due to ITO modern touchscreen market. By doping ZnO with Ga conductive transparent thin films with various concentrations of dopant are prepared by DC magnetron sputtering from ceramic targets. It is shown how the Ga content plays an important role on the growth kinetics on an initial stage of the film formation and hence on the morphologies, microstructure and electrical properties of as‐grown GZO films. A mechanism explaining the role of Ga content on the nucleation process and the structure of growing films is proposed. Based on this mechanism, it is successfully demonstrated that the crystalline quality and hence the conductivity of GZO thin films can be improved by using a GZO buffer layer.