Studies on the properties of sputter-deposited Al-doped ZnO films

Abstract ZnO is a well known material; however, the research interest in this material is still high enough because ZnO is one of the materials with the most potential for optoelectronics due to its promising properties of high conductivity as well as good transparency. In this work, aluminum doped zinc oxide films (ZnO:Al) were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on glass and silicon substrates with different deposition times of 2, 3 and 4 h. The aim of this work is the study of the deposition time effect on the properties of ZnO:Al films. It is shown that films grow with the hexagonal c -axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. The morphological characteristics show a granular and homogenous surface and the cristallinity of the films is enhanced with increased deposition time. The deposited films show good optical transmittance (80%–90%) in the visible and near infrared spectrum. The calculated band gap is about 3.3 eV. The electrical ZnO:Al/Si(p) junction properties were investigated using the Capacitance–Voltage ( C – V ) dependence. Calculations of the built-in potential from classical 1 / C 2 – V characterization give values between 0.54 and 0.71 V. This work shows how the variation of deposition time allows the control of structural, electrical and optical properties of the films.