Influence of low sputtering pressure on structural, electrical and optical properties of Al-doped zinc oxide thin films

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited without intentional heating by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The sputtering pressure varied from 0.02 Pa to 0.32 Pa while the deposition power was kept at 240 W for all depositions. The structural properties of as-deposited films were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, indicating that the deposited films have a strong preferred c-axis (002) orientation perpendicular to the substrate regardless of sputtering pressure. The minimum resistivity of 6.4×10−4 Ω cm is obtained at 0.05 Pa, which is mainly influenced by the hall mobility, rather than carrier concentration. The highest transmittance could be ~80% on average in the visible range under various working pressures, and the largest bandgap achieved is about 3.82 eV. The ultraviolet emission peaks in photoluminescence spectra are centered at about 360 nm. A new mechanism is proposed to explain the dependence of the electrical and optical properties on structural evolution of deposited films.