Enhancement of Ga-doped zinc oxide film properties and deposition rate by multiple deposition using atmosphere pressure plasma jet

•GZO film deposited on 180 °C glass in open air by atmospheric pressure plasma jet.•Multiple depositions significantly enhance deposition rate and film properties.•The resistivity (9.4 × 10−4 Ω cm) improved by 33%.•The deposition rate (110 nm/min) improved by 35%.

Multilayer film with an interfacial buffer layer made of different material has been show to improve the film properties. However, it is not well understood if similar benefits may be achieved by multiple deposition of GZO without the addition of new interfacial materials. Here we prepared single-, double-, and triple-deposited GZO films on glass substrate (preheated to 180 °C) by atmosphere pressure plasma jet (APPJ). We found that the triple-deposited film exhibits overall enhancement over the single-deposited film in deposition rate (110 nm/min) and the key properties, such as resistivity (9.4 × 10−4 Ω cm), crystallite size (16 nm), carrier concentration, mobility, and band gap. In particular, the resistivity and deposition rate are significantly improved by 33% and 35%, respectively. The results are attributed to the mitigation of lattice-mismatch between the film and the glass substrate by the bottom thin GZO film. The findings may also be applied to other deposition methods with moving nozzle or moving stage such as spray pyrolysis.