Transparent conducting aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin film prepared by sol–gel process followed by laser irradiation treatment

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were fabricated at a low substrate temperature (300 °C) in air by KrF excimer laser irradiation of sol–gel spin-coated films. Structural, electrical and optical properties of the laser-irradiated films at different laser energies were studied and compared with those prepared by conventional high-temperature processing. The 200 nm laser-irradiated AZO film shows a resistivity of 44 × 10− 3 Ω-cm and about 90% optical transmittance in the visible range upon laser irradiation. The films were oriented preferentially along (002) direction.