Effects of doping concentration and annealing temperature on properties of highly-oriented Al-doped ZnO films

Transparent and conductive high-preferential c-axis-oriented Al-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al, AZO) thin films have been prepared by the sol-gel route. Film deposition was performed by spin-coating technique on Si(1 0 0) and glass substrate. Structural, electrical and optical properties were performed by XRD, SEM, four-point probe, photoluminescence (PL) and UV-VIS spectrum measurements. The effects of annealing temperature and dopant concentration on the structural and optical properties are well discussed. It was found that both annealing temperature and doping concentration alter the microstructures of AZO films. Also, PL spectra show two main peaks centered at about 380 nm (UV) and 520 nm (green). The variation of UV-to-green band emission was greatly influenced by annealing temperatures and doping concentration. Reduction in intensity ratio of UV-to-green might possibly originate from the formation of Al-O bonds and localized Al-impurity states. The minimum sheet resistance of 10⁴ Ω/□ was obtained for the film doped with 1.6 mol% Al, annealed at 750°C. Meanwhile, all AZO films deposited on glass are very transparent, between 80% and 95% transmittance, within the visible wavelength region. These results imply that the doping concentration did not have significant influence on transparent properties, but improve the electrical conductivity and diversify emission features.