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Influence of atmosphere and material properties on damp heat stability of ZnO:Al
Author(s) -
Hüpkes Jürgen
Publication year - 2016
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.201532966
Subject(s) - materials science , annealing (glass) , humidity , composite material , degradation (telecommunications) , sputtering , sputter deposition , atmosphere (unit) , argon , electrical resistivity and conductivity , chemical engineering , thin film , nanotechnology , chemistry , telecommunications , physics , organic chemistry , engineering , computer science , electrical engineering , thermodynamics
We report on electrical properties and corrosion of ZnO:Al thin films on glass after damp heat treatments under various atmospheric conditions. The ZnO:Al films were prepared by in‐line magnetron sputtering onto glass substrates. Damp heat treatments took place at 90 °C in various humid atmospheres including air, nitrogen, and mixtures of argon and carbon dioxide. Dry heat did not affect the properties of ZnO:Al films. Humidity, however, led to a significant increase in resistivity depending on preparation conditions of the ZnO:Al and the composition of the atmosphere. Additionally, humid CO 2 levels exceeding 5% significantly etched the ZnO:Al films with resistance increase by orders of magnitude. The only exception from degradation exhibited the damp heat stable ZnO:Al that had experienced the so‐called high‐mobility annealing under the protective layer before degradation. This unique behavior was related to bulk properties of the ZnO:Al rather than a barrier effect at the film surface.