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Structural and electrical properties of Zn(Al)O layers for transparent metal oxide applications
Author(s) -
Kwon Y. B.,
Abouzaid M.,
Ruterana P.,
Je J. H.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.200675140
Subject(s) - materials science , electrical resistivity and conductivity , annealing (glass) , oxide , metal , microstructure , doping , monocrystalline silicon , silicon , optoelectronics , composite material , metallurgy , electrical engineering , engineering
The microstructure and electrical properties of low temperature (250 °C) RF sputtered Al doped ZnO layers are investigated. By varying the Al composition from 0 to 15 at%, it is shown that the morphology of the layers is improved whereas the crystalline structure changes from highly oriented monocrystalline domains to textured and misoriented nanocrystallites. It is also noticed that the best metallic properties are attained for a quite low Al concentration in the AZO (3 at%), when the Al content is further increased, the mobility, carrier density and resistivity saturate. The annealing in air at higher temperatures does not seem to improve the conduction properties, instead at 800 °C, the resistivity drops by more than one order of magnitude and the carrier density by almost five orders of magnitude. At this high temperature, the strong increase of the mobility is tentatively attributed to the better crystalline quality of the annealed layers. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)