Optimization of properties of aluminum-doped zine oxide (AZO) annealed at different temperature under different gas environment

Abstract

This study was focused on the optimization of electrical, optical and structural properties of Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) annealed from the range of 300°C to 600°C under argon and oxygen gas environment. The samples were annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Among all the annealed sample, the optimized sample had the lowest resistivity of 2.34×10-4 Ω/cm. The transmittance of the optimized sample achieved over 80% in visible spectrum. Hall measurement, spectrophotometer and x-ray diffraction measurement were adopted to examine the electrical, optical and structural properties of the samples. The crystallinity, carrier concentration and mobility had been enhanced in the annealing process, which had compensated the deficiency of sputtering condition of the as-grown samples. The investigation revealed that the substrate temperature and oxygen flow ratio in sputtering process played an indispensable role on electrical, optical and structural properties.