Highly transparent and conductive Al-doped ZnO films synthesized by pulsed laser co-ablation of Zn and Al targets assisted by oxygen plasma

•AZO thin films were synthesized by co-ablation of a Zn target and an Al target.•Zn ablation results in the reactive deposition of ZnO film assisted by oxygen plasma.•Al ablation provides Al dopants to be in-situ doped in the growing ZnO film.•AZO thin films show high optical transparency from ultraviolet up to 1450 nm.•AZO thin films present high conductivity and improved electrical properties.

Highly optically transparent and electrically conductive Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were deposited by pulsed laser co-ablation of a Zn target and an Al target in an oxygen plasma. Zn ablation resulted in the reactive deposition of ZnO films assisted by the plasma, while Al ablation provided the growing ZnO films with Al dopants. The morphology, composition and structure as well as the optical and electrical properties were characterized and the effects of Al doping and annealing treatment were investigated. The deposited AZO films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with deteriorated crystal quality which can be improved by annealing. The AZO films are highly transparent from ultraviolet up to 1450 nm and present an obvious blue shift in absorption edge and a widening of band gap compared with undoped ZnO. The electrical properties were also improved after annealing with the resistivity decreasing by over two orders of magnitude because of the increase of free carrier concentration. The variation in the carrier concentration also affects the absorption edge and the band gap of the films as well as the transparency in the infrared region. Meanwhile, this method offers an approach for in-situ doping preparation of other doped compound films with different dopant concentrations.