AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Thin Film Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuP

Paper TF-TuP4
Transparent Conducting AZO Thin Films Prepared by Magnetron Sputtering with DC and RF Power Applied in Combination

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 6:00 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Thin Film Poster Session
Presenter: T. Minami, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
Authors: T. Minami, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
Y. Ohtani, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
T. Miyata, Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan
T. Kuboi, 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 using new deposition techniques that added an rf component to dc magnetron sputtering (dc+rf-MSP) with or without the introduction of hydrogen gas into the deposition chamber. AZO films were deposited using a planar magnetron sputtering apparatus with a sintered AZO target. The dc+rf-MSP depositions were carried out in a pure Ar or an Ar+H@sub 2@ (0-3%) gas atmosphere at a pressure of 0.4 Pa by adding an rf component (13.56 MHz) to a constant dc power of 80 W. The deposition rate in dc+rf-MSP incorporating an rf power of 100 W was approximately 57 nm/min, an increase from approximately 35 nm/min in dc magnetron sputtering (dc-MSP) with a dc power of 80 W; the sputter voltages in these depositions were approximately 170 V and 365 V, respectively. In addition to improving the AZO thin film deposition rate and lowering the sputter voltage, it was found that dc+rf-MSP depositions with or without the introduction of hydrogen gas also resulted in improving the electrical property distribution on the substrate surface and reducing the damage on the deposited films and substrates caused by the bombardment of particles during the sputtering deposition. A low resistivity on the order of 10@super -4@@ohm@cm and an improved resistivity distribution could be obtained in AZO thin films deposited on substrates at low temperatures below 200@super o@C by dc+rf-MSP with the introduction of hydrogen gas; the necessary amount of added hydrogen gas increased as the substrate temperature was decreased.