| AVS 55th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Thin Film | Thursday Sessions |
| Session TF-ThP |
| Session: | Aspects of Thin Films |
| Presenter: | T. Miyata, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan |
| Authors: | T. Miyata, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan Y. Hara, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan K. Okada, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan H. Abe, Fuji Dempa Kogyo Co. Ltd., Japan T. Minami, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In this paper, we describe the preparation of transparent conducting Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films by magnetron sputtering deposition (MSD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using AZO targets sintered with a newly developed millimeter-wave (28GHz) heating technique. For the purpose of evaluating the millimeter-wave-sintered AZO targets, AZO thin films were prepared with various thicknesses on glass substrates at a temperature of 100-300oC by MSD or PLD using an AZO target sintered for about 30 min at a temperature of approximately 1250oC in an Ar gas or air atmosphere. For comparison, additional AZO thin films were prepared by MSD or PLD using an AZO target sintered for 5 h with a conventional furnace. The Al content (Al/(Al+Zn) atomic ratio) in sintered AZO targets was varied in the range from approximately 1.5 to 6 at.%. It was found that the obtainable resistivity of AZO thin films deposited using a millimeter-wave-sintered AZO target was less than or comparable to that produced in AZO films deposited using a furnace-sintered AZO target prepared with the same temperature and Al content. AZO thin films prepared with a thickness above 100 nm by PLD exhibited a low resistivity on the order of 2X10-4Ωcm. Using either type of target preparation, the obtainable resistivity of the deposited AZO films increased as the thickness was decreased; the thickness dependence of the obtainable resistivity in AZO thin films deposited using a millimeter-wave-sintered AZO target was comparable to that found in AZO films deposited using a furnace-sintered AZO target. Although the obtained resistivity and other properties in deposited AZO thin films were affected by the deposition method used, these properties were relatively independent of the sintering technique of the targets. It can be concluded that the newly developed energy saving millimeter-wave heating sintering technique is very well suited for producing sintered oxide targets.