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Zn‐aided defect control for ultrathin GZO films with high carrier concentration aiming at alternative plasmonic metamaterials
Author(s) -
Zhu Chaoting,
Li Jia,
Yang Ye,
Huang Jinhua,
Lu Yuehui,
Tan Ruiqin,
Dai Ning,
Song Weijie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201431765
Subject(s) - materials science , thin film , optoelectronics , annealing (glass) , sputter deposition , plasmon , sputtering , dielectric , permittivity , substrate (aquarium) , nanotechnology , composite material , oceanography , geology
In this work, (0–10 nm) Zn/100 nm ZnO:Ga ultrathin films are deposited on glass substrate at room temperature by magnetron sputtering, with a post‐rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 500 °C for 1 min, which causes a dramatic improvement in carrier concentration due to elimination of Zn‐vacancy defects. Depositing different Zn thickness, only 8 nm Zn/100 nm GZO thin film exhibits the highest carrier concentration of 1.02 × 10 21 cm −3 and the lowest resistivity of 4 . 0 × 10 −4 Ω cm. Higher electronic concentration shifts the zero‐crossover of the real permittivity below 1.3 μm, which confirms the metal‐like optical properties in the near‐infrared (NIR) range. Optical losses in these annealed Zn/GZO films are four times smaller than conventional Ag films in the NIR. The average transmittances of all the annealed GZO thin films were above 84% in the visible range. The GZO ultrathin film deposited by this method is a promising low‐loss alternative material to conventional metals for plasmonic devices operating in the NIR.