Enhanced Work Function of Al-Doped Zinc-Oxide Thin Films by Oxygen Inductively Coupled Plasma Treatment

Al-doped zinc-oxide （AZO） thin films treated by oxygen and chlorine inductively coupled plasma （ICP） were compared. Kelvin probe （KP） and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） were employed to characterize the effect of treatment. The results of KP measurement show that the surface work function of AZO thin films can increase up to 5.92 eV after oxygen ICP （O-ICP）＇s treatment, which means that the work function was increased by at least 1.1 eV. However, after the treatment of chlorine ICP （CI-ICP）, the work function increased to 5.44 eV, and the increment was 0.6 eV. And 10 days later, the work function increment was still 0.4 eV after O-ICP＇s treatment, while the work function after Cl-ICP＇s treatment came back to the original value only after 48 hours. The XPS results suggested that the O-ICP treatment was more effective than CI-ICP for enhancing the work function of AZO films, which is well consistent with KP results.

Crystallization behaviors of ultrathin Al-doped HfO2 amorphous films grown by atomic layer deposition

In this work, ultrathin pure HfO_2 and Al-doped HfO_2films（about 4-nm thick） are prepared by atomic layer deposition and the crystallinities of these films before and after annealing at temperatures ranging from 550℃ to 750℃ are analyzed by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction. The as-deposited pure HfO_2 and Al-doped HfO_2 films are both amorphous. After550-℃ annealing, a multiphase consisting of a few orthorhombic, monoclinic and tetragonal phases can be observed in the pure HfO_2 film while the Al-doped HfO_2 film remains amorphous. After annealing at 650℃ and above, a great number of HfO_2 tetragonal phases, a high-temperature phase with higher dielectric constant, can be stabilized in the Al-doped HfO_2 film. As a result, the dielectric constant is enhanced up to about 35. The physical mechanism of the phase transition behavior is discussed from the viewpoint of thermodynamics and kinetics.

Surface properties of Al-doped ZnO thin film before and after CF_4/Ar plasma etching

Al-doped ZnO(AZO) is considered as an alternative to transparent conductive oxide materials.Patterning and achieving a stable surface are important challenges in the development and optimization of dry etching processes, which must be overcome for the application of AZO in various devices. Therefore, in this study, the etch rate and surface properties of an AZO thin film after plasma etching using the adaptive coupled plasma system were investigated. The fastest etch rate was achieved with a CF_(4)/Ar ratio of 50:50 sccm. Regardless of the ratio of CF_(4) to Ar,the transmittance of the film in the visible region exceeded 80%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the AZO thin film confirmed that metal-F bonding persists on the surface after plasma etching. It was also shown that F eliminates O vacancies. Consequently, the work function and bandgap energy increased as the ratio of CF-4 increased. This study not only provides information on the effect of plasma on AZO thin film, but identifies the cause of changes in the device characteristics during device fabrication.

A Back-Gated Ferroelectric Field-Effect Transistor with an Al-Doped Zinc Oxide Channel

We report a back-gated metal-oxide-ferroelectric-metal （MOFM） field-effect transistor （FET） with lead zirconate titanate （PZT） material, in which an Al doped zinc oxide （AZO） channel layer with an optimized doping concentration of 1% is applied to reduce the channel resistance of the channel layer, thus guaranteeing a large enough load capacity of the transistor. The hysteresis loops of the Pt/PZT/AZO/Ti/Pt capacitor are measured and compared with a Pt/PZT/Pt capacitor, indicating that the remnant polarization is almost 40 μC/cm^2 and the polarization is saturated at 20 V. The measured capacitance-voltage properties are analyzed as a result of the electron depletion and accumulation switching operation conducted by the modulation of PZT on AZO channel resistance caused by the switchable remnant polarization of PZT. The switching properties of the AZO channel layer are also proved by the current-voltage transfer curves measured in the back-gated MOFM ferroelectric FET, which also show a drain current switching ratio up to about 100 times.

AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors with transparent gates by Al-doped ZnO

AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors （HEMTs） with Al-doped ZnO （AZO） transparent gate electrodes are fabricated, and Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs are produced in comparison. The AZO-gated HEMTs show good DC characteristics and Schottky rectifying characteristics, and the gate electrodes achieve excellent transparencies. Compared with Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs, AZO-gated HEMTs show a low saturation current, high threshold voltage, high Schottky barrier height, and low gate reverse leakage current. Due to the higher gate resistivity, AZO-gated HEMTs exhibit a current-gain cutoff frequency （fT） of 10 GHz and a power gain cutoff frequency （fmax） of 5 GHz, and lower maximum oscillation frequency than Ni/Au/Ni-gated HEMTs. Moreover, the C-V characteristics are measured and the gate interface characteristics of the AZO-gated devices are investigated by a C-V dual sweep.

Magnetic Properties of Al-Doped Na_(0.7)Co_(1-x)Al_xO_2

Single phase polycrystalline samples Na0.7Co1-xAlxO2 （x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 030） were prepared by solid state reaction. The magnetic properties from 5 K to 300 K have been studied by dc and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements. Samples with lower doping quantity （x = 0, 0.05, 0.10） showed paramagnetic behaviors, but those with higher doping quantity （x=0.20, 0.25, 0.30）showed spin-glass behaviors with a freezing temperature （Tf） of about 13 K.

Synthesis and electrochemical properties of Al-doped LiVPO_4F cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Al-doped LiVPO4F cathode materials LiAlxV1-xPO4F were prepared by two-step reactions based on a car-bothermal reduction （CTR） process. The properties of the Al-doped LiVPO4F were investigated by X-ray diffraction （XRD）,scanning electron microscopy （SEM）,and electrochemical measurements. XRD studies show that the Al-doped LiVPO4F has the same triclinic structure （space group p-↑1 ） as the undoped LiVPO4F. The SEM images exhibit that the particle size of Al-doped LiVPO4F is smaller than that of the undoped LiVPO4F and that the smallest particle size is only about 1 μm. The Al-doped LiVPO4F was evaluated as a cathode material for secondary lithium batteries,and exhibited an improved reversibility and cycleability,which may be attributed to the addition of Al^3＋ ion by stabilizing the triclinic structure.

Novel Al-doped carbon nanotubes with adsorption and coagulation promotion for organic pollutant removal

Al-doped carbon nanotubes（Al-doped CNTs） were prepared as a multifunctional integrated material of adsorbent and coagulant aid for organic pollutant removal from aqueous solution. It was observed that aluminum species were dispersed homogeneously on the surface of CNTs, and mainly anchored onto defect structures of the CNTs. The introduction of aluminium efficiently improved adsorption ability for methyl orange（MO） onto the CNTs,and maximum adsorption capacity calculated from the Langmuir isotherm model can reach 69.7 mg/g. The MO adsorption kinetics can be better described by the pseudo-second-order and pore diffusion kinetic models, and the diffusion of MO anions into pores of the Al-doped CNT adsorbent should be the rate-determining step.Thermodynamic analyses indicated that the adsorption of MO onto Al-CNTs-2.0 was endothermic and spontaneous. Moreover, adsorption capacity for MO on the Al-doped CNTs was evidently dependent on the CNT dose, solution p H and adsorbent dose. From the perspective of low-cost and multifunctional, suspension obtained during the Al-doped CNT adsorbent preparation, was tested as coagulant to remove humic acid（HA）. A significant observation is that the suspension exhibited an excellent coagulation performance for HA,because abundant aluminous polymer and Al-doped CNTs existed in the suspension.

Fast Degradation of Green Pollutants Through Nanonets and Nanofibers of the Al-Doped Zinc Oxide

In this study, series of nanolayered structures of Zn–Al LDHs were prepared by urea hydrolysis. Nanofibers and nanonets of the Al-doped ZnO were formed via the decomposition of the nanolayers under high pressure and temperature. Nanospheres were also prepared for comparison. The different morphologies of the prepared nanomaterials were confirmed by several techniques. An improvement for the optical properties of the doped zinc oxides was observed through narrowing of their band gap energies because of transforming the nanolayers to nanonets and nanofibers. The photocatalytic activities of the prepared nanomaterials were studied through photocatalytic degradation of the pollutants of acid green dyes. Complete decolorization and mineralization of green dyes happened in the presence of the nanolayers and nanospheres within 4–6 h,while the nanonets and the nanofibers achieved the complete decolorization and degradation of the dyes at shorter time 1.3 h. These results could be explained though the kinetic study of the photocatalytic degradation of dyes. It was concluded that the nanonets and the nanofibers were very effective for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants.

A comparison of transmittance properties between ZnO∶Al films for transparent conductors for solar cells deposited by sputtering of AZO and cosputtering of AZO/ZnO

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were deposited on sapphire (002) and glass substrates by two different sputtering techniques radio frequency magnetron cosputtering of AZO and ZnO targets and sputtering of an AZO target. The dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) and transmittance properties of the AZO films deposited by cosputtering and sputtering on the AZO/ZnO target power ratio, R and the O2/Ar flow ratio, r were investigated, respectively. Only a deep level emission peak appears in the PL spectra of cosputtered AZO films whereas both UV emission and deep level emission peaks are observed in the PL spectra of sputtered AZO films. The absorption edges in the transmittance spectra of the AZO films shift to the lower wavelength region as R and r increase. Effects of crystallinity, surface roughness, PL on the transmittance of the AZO films were also explained using the X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and PL analysis results.

Fabrication and properties of ZAO powder,sputtering target materials and the related films

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide （ZnO：Al）, abbreviated as ZAO, is a novel and widely used transparent conductive material. The ZAO powder was synthesized by chemical coprecipitation. The ZAO ceramic sputtering target materials were fabricated by sintering in air, and ZAO transparent conductive films were prepared by RF magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. XRD proved that such films had an orientation of （002） crystal panel paralleled to the surface of the glass substrate. The average transmittance of the films in the visible region exceeded 80%.

Influence of Argon Gas Pressure on the ZnO:Al Films Deposited on Flexible TPT Substrates at Room Temperature by Magnetron Sputtering

Aluminium doped ZnO thin films（ZnO︰Al） were deposited on transparent polymer substrates at room temperature by rf magnetron sputtering method from a ZnO target with Al2O3 of 2.0 wt%. Argon gas pressure varied from 0.5 Pa to 2.5 Pa with radio frequency power of 120 W. XRD results showed that all the ZnO︰Al films had a polycrystalline hexagonal structure and a （002） preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. The grain sizes of the films were 6.3-14.8 nm.SEM images indicated the ZnO︰Al film with low Argon gas pressure was denser and the deposition rate of the films depended strongly on the Argon gas pressure, increasing firstly and then decreasing with increasing the pressure. The highest deposition rate was 5.2 nm/min at 1 Pa. The optical transmittance of the ZnO︰Al films increased and the blue shift of the absorption edge appeared when the Argon gas pressure increased. The highest transmittance of obtained ZnO︰Al films at 2.5 Pa was about 85% in the visible region. The electrical properties of the films were worsened with the increase of the Argon gas power from 1 Pa to 2.5 Pa. The resistivity of obtained film at 1.0 Pa was 2.79×10-2 Ω·cm.

Influence of Deposition Pressure on Properties of ZnO：Al Films Fabricated by RF Magnetron Sputtering

Transparent conductive aluminum doped zinc oxide（ZnO：Al,AZO） films were prepared on glass substrates by rf（radio frequency） magnetron sputtering from ZnO： 3wt% Al_2O_3 ceramic target. The effect of argon gas pressure（PAr） was investigated with small variations to understand the influence on the electrical, optical and structural properties of the films. Structural examinations using X-ray diffraction（XRD） and scanning electron microscopy（SEM） showed that the ZnO：Al thin films were（002） oriented. The resistivity values were measured by four-point probe with the lowest resistivity of 5.76×10^（-4） Ω？cm（sheet resistance=9.6 Ω/sq. for a thickness=600 nm） obtained at the PAr of 0.3 Pa. The transmittance was achieved from ultravioletvisible（UV-VIS） spectrophotometer, 84% higher than that in the visible region for all AZO thin films. The properties of deposited thin films showed a significant dependence on the PAr.

Zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 derived Al-Co-S hierarchical sheets bridged by nitrogen-doped graphene:Incorporation of PANI derived carbon nanorods for solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors

Metal sulfides have been widely enticed as battery-type electrodes in supercapacitor devices because of their maximal theoretical capacitance.Nevertheless,their lower conductivity and ion transport kinetics can largely restrict their rate performance,hence the practical usage in fields of demanding high power devices.Therefore,the design of new electrodes with higher energy and power densities remains a highly challenging task.To the best of our knowledge,a novel hierarchical composite of Al-CoS_(2) on nitrogendoped graphene(NG)is prepared based on a zeolite imidazole framework using a simple and scalable hydrothermal process.In this hybrid,ultrathin Al-CoS_(2) nanosheet arrays are vertically orientated on the NG framework to limit self-aggregation,hence increasing the electrical property and cycle stability of composite.It is investigated that the Al/Co feeding ratio plays a crucial role in controlling the obtained hierarchical structure of Al-Co-S sheets and their electrode performance.Also,Al^(3+) can influence remarkably the morphology and electrochemical property of the resultant graphene composite.An effective synergism is noticed between the redox Al-CoS_(2) and NG resulting in fast electron transfer and chargingdischarging processes.Surprisingly,when the as-developed composite is utilized as a positive electrode at an applied current density of 1 A/g,a specific capacitance of 1915.8 F/g is attained with ultra-long cycle stability(96%,10,000 cycles)and an excellent retention rate(~89%).As a consequence,when a solid-state asymmetric supercapacitor(ASC)device is made by combining an Al-CoS_(2) @NG hybrid with a negative electrode made of polyaniline(PANI)derived carbon nanorods(PCNRs),it demonstrates remarkable specific capacitance(188 F/g),energy density(66.9 Wh/kg),and cyclic stability of 92%after 10,000 cycles.This may open the pathway for the application of the next-generation supercapacitors in the future.

Utilizing of high-pressure high-temperature synthesis to enhance the thermoelectric properties of Zn_(0.98)Al_(0.02)O with excellent electrical properties

The temperature in the high-pressure high-temperature(HPHT) synthesis is optimized to enhance the thermoelectric properties of high-density Zn O ceramic, Zn_(0.98)Al_(0.02)O. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy show that HPHT can be utilized to control the crystal structure and relative density of the material.High pressure can be utilized to change the energy band structure of the samples via changing the lattice constant of samples, which decreases the thermal conductivity due to the formation of a multi-scale hierarchical structure and defects. The electrical conductivity of the material reaches 6×10^(4) S/m at 373 K, and all doped samples behave as n-type semiconductors. The highest power factor(6.42 μW·cm^(-1)·K^(-2)) and dimensionless figure of merit(z T = 0.09) are obtained when Zn_(0.98)Al_(0.02)O is produced at 973 K using HPHT, which is superior to previously reported power factors for similar materials at the same temperature. Hall measurements indicate a high carrier concentration, which is the reason for the enhanced electrical performance.

Tuning of magnetic properties of aluminium-doped strontium hexaferrite powders

M-type Al-doped strontium ferrite powders （SrA1xFe2n-xO19, n = 5.9） with nominal Al content of x = 0-2.0 are prepared by traditional ceramic technology. The phase identification of the powders, performed using x-ray diffraction, shows the presence of purity hexaferrite structure and absence of any secondary phase. The lattice parameters decrease with increasing x. The average grain size of the powders is about 300 nm-400 nm at Al3＋ ion content x = 0-2.0. The room- temperature hysteresis loops of the powders, measured by using vibrating sample magnetometer, show that the specific saturation magnetization （σs） value continuously decreases while the coercivity （Hc） value increases with increasing x, and He reaches to 9759 Oe （1 Oe = 79.5775 A/m） at x = 2.0. According to the law of approach saturation, Hc value increases with increasing Al3＋ ion content, which is attributed to the saturation magnetization （Ms） decreasing more rapidly than the magnetic anisotropy constant （Kl） obtained by numerical fitting of the hysteresis loops. The distribution of Al3＋ ions in the hexaferrite structure of SrAlxFe2n- xO19 is investigated by using 57Co Mtssbauer spectroscopy. The effect of Al3＋ doping on static magnetic properties contributes to the improvement of magnetic anisotropy field.

Improving light trapping and conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cell by modified and randomly distributed ZnO nanorods

Three-dimensional （3D） nanostructures in thin film solar cells have attracted significant attention due to their appli- cations in enhancing light trapping. Enhanced light trapping can result in more effective absorption in solar cells, thus leading to higher short-circuit current density and conversion efficiency. We develop randomly distributed and modified ZnO nanorods, which are designed and fabricated by the following processes： the deposition of a ZnO seed layer on sub- strate with sputtering, the wet chemical etching of the seed layer to form isolated islands for nanorod growth, the chemical bath deposition of the ZnO nanorods, and the sputtering deposition of a thin Al-doped ZnO （ZnO：Al） layer to improve the ZnO/Si interface. Solar cells employing the modified ZnO nanorod substrate show a considerable increase in solar energy conversion efficiency.

Influence of Al-doping on electroluminescence of silicon-based films

A series of Al-doped silicon-rich silica (AlSiO) composite films have been prepared by a dual ion beam co-sputtering method with a Al, Si and SiO2 composite target. The content of Al and Si in the films can be adjusted by changing the surface area of Al and Si of the target. Visible electroluminescence (EL) from the samples is found to have only one luminescence band peaked at 510 nm (2.4 eV). Experimental results show that the doping of Al is beneficial to reducing the onset voltage and to increasing the intensity of EL.

Synthesis and structure analysis of aluminum doped zinc oxide powders

Hexagonal Al-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) powders with a nominal composition of Zn1-xAlxO (0≤x≤0.028) were synthesized by the co-precipitation method. The contents of the Al element in the samples were measured by the inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) technique. The structures of the Zn1-xAlxO (0≤x≤0.028) compounds calcined at 1000 and 1200℃ have been deter- mined using the Rietveld full-profile analysis method. Rietveld refinements of the diffraction data indi- cated that the addition of Al initially has a considerably positive effect on the decreasing of the lattice parameters a and c of Zn1-xAlxO, but the effect becomes very slight and even negative with the further increase of the Al content. The solid solubility limit of Al in ZnO (mole fraction y) is 2.2l%, resulting in Zn0.978Al0.22O. It seems that when the Al content is excessive, Al prefers to form a ZnAl2O4 compound with ZnO, but not to incorporate into the ZnO lattice to occupy the Zn2+ cites. Two phases, [ZnO] (or Al-doped ZnO) and [ZnAl2O4], are obviously segregated in Zn1-xAlxO while the value of x is larger than 0.024. The UV-Vis absorption spectra show that the Al-doped ZnO exhibits a red-shift in the absorption edge without reduced transmission compared with pure ZnO, which also confirms that Al ions enter the ZnO lattice and form a Zn1-xAlxO solid solution.

ZnO:Al Films Prepared by Reactive Mid-frequency Magnetron Sputtering with Rotating Cathode

Al-doped zinc oxide （ZnO：Al,AZO） films were deposited on glass substrates using a reactive mid-frequency （MF） magnetron sputtering process with rotating cathodes.The influence of deposition parameters on structural,electrical and optical properties of AZO films is investigated.It is observed that the rotating magnetron targets exhibited a sputtered metallic surface over a wider range,and there is no re-deposition zone between the racetracks.The films deposited at static deposition mode demonstrate more homogenous in thickness and resistivity across the target surface compared with conventional rectangular targets.The films deposited under the proper conditions show a regular cone-shaped grain surface and densely packed columnar structure.The minimum resistivity of 3.16×10-4 ·cm was obtained for the film prepared at substrate temperature of 150 C,gas pressure of 640 MPa and oxygen partial pressure of 34 MPa.