Effects of substrate temperature on the efficiency of hydrogen incorporation on the properties of Al-doped ZnO films

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent conducting films were successfully prepared on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures in Ar and H2 + Ar sputtering ambient. The effects of substrate temperature on the effectiveness of hydrogen incorporation in Al-doped ZnO films were investigated. The microstructural, electrical and optical properties of AZO films were systematically analyzed by surface profiler, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscope, four-point probe measurement and UV/vis spectrophotometer. The XRD patterns and SEM pictures indicate that the crystallinity of AZO thin films was markedly improved with hydrogen incorporation at low substrate temperature, while the improvement of crystallinity was not an obvious change at high substrate temperature. The results also indicate that hydrogen incorporation has the stronger effectiveness on the transparent conductive properties of AZO films with the substrate temperature decreasing. The resistivity of the films decreases, especially for lower substrate temperatures, due to the incorporation of hydrogen atoms. These results suggest that substrate temperature should be controlled to the lower level to effectively reduce resistivity without detriment to transmittance of AZO thin films when hydrogen is incorporated.

► Hydrogen is more effective in improving crystallinity at low substrate temperature.
► Hydrogen is more effective in improving electrical properties at low Tsubstrate.
► Hydrogen is more effective in improving the optical transmittance at low Tsubstrate.
► The lowest resistivity of 7.5 × 10−4 Ω cm was obtained with hydrogen incorporation.