Growth behaviors and film properties of zinc oxide grown by atmospheric mist chemical vapor deposition

• The mist CVD ZnO showed impurity-free, highly transparent, and poly-crystallized film.
• The electrical properties of mist CVD ZnO can be controlled by adjusting water concentration in a solvent.
• The role of water in a solvent may enhanced device performances due to generating oxygen deficiency and Zn(OH)2.

We evaluated the characteristics of ZnO grown by atmospheric mist chemical vapor deposition at temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 300 °C as a function of the water in the solvent. We also utilized ZnO thin films as an active layer of thin film transistors (TFTs) using the mist CVD process. The mobility measured in the thin-film transistor (TFT) increased with increasing water concentration in the solvent and increasing temperature. We believe that the fact that hydrogen is incorporated in ZnO due to the function of water in the solvent plays an important role in determining the transistor characteristics. The higher deposition temperature functions to increase oxygen vacancies which influences the mobility.