Combined influence of fluorine doping and vacuum annealing on the electrical properties of ZnO:Ta films

In this study, our main focus is to investigate the effects of F doping and post deposition annealing (air and vacuum) on the optical and electrical characteristics of tantalum doped zinc oxide films (ZnO:Ta). A cost-effective, automated jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique is adopted to deposit the ZnO:Ta:F films. The doping level of Ta is kept constant (1 at.%) and that of F is varied from 5 to 20 at.% in steps of 5 at.%. The electrical resistivity of the as-deposited films decreases for 10 at.% of F concentration. The resistance increases thereafter. The same trend is also observed in annealed films. The reasons for these variations are addressed based on the effective F incorporation into the ZnO lattice and annealing atmosphere with the help of XRD, FESEM, AFM and PL studies. The incorporation of the dopants was confirmed from XPS and EDX analyses and the DFT studies show that the incorporation of the dopants does not affect the stability of the ZnO lattice. Vacuum-annealed films show better electrical properties over the as-deposited and air-annealed counterparts, though their transparency is affected marginally. A minimum resistivity of 0.81 × 10−3 Ω cm and an enhanced quality factor of 2.265 × 10−4 (Ω/sq)−1 are achieved for the vacuum-annealed films having Ta + F doping levels as 1 + 10 at.%. These results make this sample a desirable candidate for transparent electrode applications.