Study of AZO Thin Films Under Different Annealing Atmosphere on Structural , Optical and Electrical Properties by rf

In this paper, the transparent conductive aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO: Al, AZO) thin films with different annealing conditions are studied. The AZO thin films were prepared on the Coring glass substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. The AZO thin films were annealed in atmosphere of vacuum and hydrogen at temperatures from 100 to 400°C in steps of 100°C for 1 min, respectively, to investigate the effects of annealing on electrical and optical properties of the films. Optimization of the prepared thin films shows low resistivity of 6.04 × 10 Ω-cm, mobility of 5.213 cm/V-s, carrier concentration of 7.147 × 10 cm and a average optical transmittance of 84.89 % in the visible range at 200°C annealing temperature in hydrogen are obtained. These results indicate that AZO thin films are a promising high conductivity transparent electrode scheme for solar cells and various displays applications.