Electrical and nonlinear optical properties of TGZO transparent conducting films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Thin transparent oxide conducting films(TCOFs)of titanium and gallium substituted zinc oxide(TGZO)were fabricated via radio frequency(RF)magnetron sputtering technique.The effects of RF power on electrical,linear and nonlinear optical characteristics were investigated by Hall tester,Ultraviolet(UV)-visible spectrophotometer and optical characterization method.The results indicate that RF power significantly influences the electrical and optical properties of the deposited films.As RF power raises,the resistivity and Urbach energy fall initially and then rise,while the figure of merit,mean visible transmittance and optical bandgap show the reverse variation trend.At RF power of 190 W,the TGZO sample exhibits the highest electro-optical properties,with the maximum figure of merit(1.14×10^(4)Ω-1∙cm^(-1)),mean visible transmittance(86.9%)and optical bandgap(3.50 eV),the minimum resistivity(6.26×10^(-4)Ω∙cm)and Urbach energy(174.23 meV).In addition,the optical constants of the deposited films were determined by the optical spectrum fitting method,and the RF power dependence of nonlinear optical properties was studied.It is observed that all the thin films exhibit normal dispersion characteristics in the visible region,and the nonlinear optical parameters are greatly affected by the RF power in the ultraviolet region.

Structure distortion, optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films co-doped with Al and Sb by sol-gel spin coating

ZnO thin films co-doped with A1 and Sb with different concentrations and a fixed molar ratio of AlCl3 to SbCl3 at 1：2, are prepared by a sol-gel spin-coating method on glass annealed at 550 ℃ for 2 h in air. The x-ray diffraction results confirm that the ZnO thin films co-doped with Al distortion, and the biaxial stresses are 1.03× 10^8. 3.26× 10^8 and Sb are of wurtzite hexagonal ZnO with a very small 5.23 × 10^8, and 6.97× 10^8 Pa, corresponding to those of the ZnO thin films co-doped with Al and Sb in concentrations of 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0 at% respectively. The optical properties reveal that the ZnO thin films co-doped with Al and Sb have obviously enhanced transmittance in the visible region. The electrical properties show that ZnO thin film co-doped with Al and Sb in a concentration of 1.5 at% has a lowest resistivity of 2.5 Ω·cm.

Structural, Optical and Luminescence Properties of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Sol-Gel Spin-Coating Method： Effect of Precursor Concentration

Transparent zinc oxide（ZnO） thin films are fabricated by a simple sol-gel spin-coating technique on glass substrates with different solution concentrations（0.3-1.2 M） using zinc acetate dehydrate [Zn（CH_3COO）_2·2H_2O] as precursor and isopropanol and monoethanolamine（MEA） as solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The molar ratio of zinc acetate dehydrate to MEA is 1.0. X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy are employed to investigate the effect of solution concentration on the structural and optical properties of the ZnO thin films. The obtained results of all thin films are discussed in detail and are compared with other experimental data.

Physical Properties of Al-doped ZnO and Ga-doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Direct Current Sputtering at Room Temperature

Al-doped zinc oxide（AZO） and Ga-doped zinc oxide（GZO） thin films with the same doping concentration（3.6 at%） were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by direct current（DC） magnetron sputtering.Consequently,we comparatively studied the doped thin films on the basis of their structural,morphological,electrical,and optical properties for optoelectronic applications.Both thin films exhibited excellent optical properties with more than 85%transmission in the visible range.The GZO thin film had better crystallinity and smoother surface morphology than the AZO thin film.The conductivity of the GZO thin film was improved compared to that of the AZO thin film：the resistivity decreased from 1.01×10^-3 to 3.5×10^-4 Ω cm,which was mostly due to the increase of the carrier concentration from 6.5×10^20 to 1.46×10^21cm^-3.These results revealed that the GZO thin film had higher quality than the AZO thin film with the same doping concentration for optoelectronic applications.

Engineering of electronic and optical properties of ZnO thin films via Cu doping

ZnO thin films doped with different Cu concentrations are fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering technique. XRD analysis indicates that the crystal quality of the ZnO：Cu film can be enhanced by a moderate level of Cu-doping in the sputtering process. The results of XPS spectra of zinc, oxygen, and copper elements show that Cu-doping has an evident and complicated effect on the chemical state of oxygen, but little effect on those of zinc and copper. Interestingly, further investigation of the optical properties of ZnO：Cu samples shows that the transmittance spectra exhibit both red shift and blue shift with the increase of Cu doping, in contrast to the simple monotonic behavior of the Burstein–Moss effect. Analysis reveals that this is due to the competition between oxygen vacancies and intrinsic and surface states of oxygen in the sample. Our result may suggest an effective way of tuning the bandgap of ZnO samples.

Electrical and optical properties of Sb-doped ZnO thin films synthesized by sol–gel method

Sb-doped ZnO thin films with different values of Sb content （from 0 to 1.1 at.%） are deposited by the sol-gel dip- coating method under different sol concentrations. The effects of Sb-doping content, sol concentration, and annealing ambient on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of ZnO films are investigated. The results of the X-ray diffraction and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy （UV-VIS） spectrophotometer indicate that each of all the films retains the wurtzite ZnO structure and possesses a preferred orientation along the c axis, with high transmittance （〉 90%） in the visible range. The Hall effect measurements show that the vacuum annealed thin films synthesized in the sol concentration of 0.75 mol/L each have an adjustable n-type electrical conductivity by varying Sb-doping density, and the photoluminescence （PL） spectra revealed that the defect emission （around 450 nm） is predominant. However, the thin films prepared by the sol with a concentration of 0.25 mol/L, despite their poor conductivity, have priority in ultraviolet emission, and the PL peak position shows first a blue-shift and then a red-shift with the increase of the Sb doping content.

Structure and Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by the Czochralski Method

The zinc oxide seed film was coated on conductive glass (FTO) substrate by the Czochralski method,Zinc acetate and hexamethylenetetramine were used as raw materials to prepare growth solution,and then ZnO film was prepared by a low-temperature solution method.The effects of annealing temperature on the morphology,structure,stress and optical properties of ZnO films were studied.The thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),scanning electron microscopy (SEM),UV-visible absorption spectra (UV-vis),photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).The results show that the films are ZnO nanorods.With the increase of annealing temperature,the diameter of the rod increases,and the nanorods tend to be oriented.The band gap of the sample obtained from the light absorption spectra first increases and then decreases with the increase of annealing temperature.When the annealing temperature is 350 ℃,the crystallinity of zinc oxide film is the highest,the band gap is close to the theoretical value of pure ZnO.

Effects of Substrate Temperature on Properties for Transparent Conducting ZnO:A1 Films on Organic Substrate Deposited by r.f. Sputtering

This paper presents the substrate temperature dependence of opto-electrical properties for transparent conducting Al-doped ZnO films prepared on polyisocyanate (PI) substrates by r f sputtering. Polycrystalline ZnO:Al films with good adherence to the substrates having a (002) preferred orientation have been obtained with resistivities in the range from 4.1×10-3to 5.3×104 Ωcm, carrier densities more than 2.6×1020 cm-3 and Hall mobilities between 5.78 and 13.11 cm2/V/s for films. The average transmittance reaches 75% in the visible spectrum. The quality of obtained films depends on substrate temperature during film fabrication.

Effects of Annealing Temperature on Properties of ZnO Thin Films Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition

ZnO thin films are deposited on n-Si（111） substrates by pulsed laser deposition（PLD） system. Then the samples are annealed at different temperatures in air ambient and their properties are investigated particularly as a function of annealing temperature. The microstructure, morphology and optical properties of the as-grown ZnO films are studied by X-ray diffraetion（XRD）. atomic force mieroseope（AFM）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR） and photoluminescence（PL） spectra. The results show that the as- grown ZnO films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a preferred c-axis orientation. Moreover, the diameters of the ZnO crystallites become larger and the crystal quality of the ZnO fihns is improved with the increase of annealing temperature.

The Effect of ZnO Thin Film and Its Structural and Optical Properties Prepared by Sol-Gel Spin Coating Method

ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates at different Zinc concentration and their effects on structural, Morphology and optical properties were investigated. Zinc acetate dehydrate, 2 Methoxy ethanol and Monoethanolamine were used as the precursor, solvent and stabilizer respectively. The molar ratio of Monoethanolamine to Zinc acetate was maintained as 1. The crystal structure and orientation of the films were analyzed by XRD. The XRD patterns show that the ZnO films are polycrystalline with wurtzite hexagonal structure. The film with 0.5 m/l concentration has the better crystallinity. The thickness of the films was determined by thickness Profilometer. The surface morphology of the films was observed by Scanning electron microscope. The SEM images show that they are homogeneous, continuous and spindle like shape. The optical properties of the films were studied by UV-Vis-Spectrophotometer. The transmittance of the films decreases with increase of Zinc concentration. The energy band gap of the films decreases slightly, when the Zinc concentration increases from0.25 m/l to0.75 m/l and then increases when the concentration further increases from0.75 m/l to1.0 m/l.

Effect of Pre-heating Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties of Sol-gel Derived Zn_(0.8)Cd_(0.2)O Thin Films

Zn_（0.8）Cd_（0.2）O thin films prepared using the spin-coating method were investigated. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and UV-Vis spectrophotometry were employed to illustrate the effects of the pre-heating temperature on the crystalline structure, surface morphology and transmission spectra of Zn_（0.8）Cd_（0.2）O thin films. When the thin films were pre-heated at 150 ℃, polycrystalline Zn O thin films were obtained. When the thin films were pre-heated at temperatures of 200 ℃ or higher, preferential growth of Zn O nanocrystals along the c-axis was observed. Transmission spectra showed that thin films with high transmission in the visible light range were prepared and effective bandgap energies of these thin films decreased from 3.19 e V to 3.08 e V when the pre-heating temperature increased from 150 ℃ to 300 ℃.

Effect of substrate temperature on microstructures and dielectric properties of compositionally graded BST thin films

Compositionally graded Ba1-xSrxTiO3 (BST) (x = 0-0.3) thin films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate at different substrate temperatures ranging from 550 ℃ to 650 ℃ by radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering. The effect of substrate temperature on the preferential orientation, microstructures and dielectric properties of compositionally graded BST thin films was investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and dielectric frequency spectra, respectively. As the temperature increases, the preferential orientation evolves in the order: randomly orientation→ (111) → highly oriented (111) (α(111) = 60.2%). The surface roughness of the graded BST thin films varies with the substrate temperatures. No visible internal interface in the compositionally graded thin films can be observed in the cross-sectional SEM images. The graded BST thin films deposited at 650 ℃ possess the highest dielectric constant and dielectric loss, which are 408 and 0.013, respectively.

Properties of doped ZnO transparent conductive thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering using a series of high quality ceramic targets

To obtain high transmittance and low resistivity ZnO transparent conductive thin films,a series of ZnO ceramic targets（ZnO：Al,ZnO：（Al,Dy）,ZnO：（Al,Gd）,ZnO：（Al,Zr）,ZnO：（Al,Nb）,and ZnO：（Al,W）） were fabricated and used to deposit thin films onto glass substrates by radio frequency（RF） magnetron sputtering.X-ray diffraction（XRD） analysis shows that the films are polycrystalline fitting well with hexagonal wurtzite structure and have a preferred orientation of the（002） plane.The transmittance of above 86% as well as the lowest resistivity of 8.43 × 10^-3 Ω·cm was obtained.

Effect of Na Concentrations on Microstructure and Optical Properties of ZnO Films

Na-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on the glass substrates using sol-gel method. The effect of Na concentrations on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films was studied. As Na concentration increases from 0.0 at% to 16.0 at%, preferential c-axis orientation becomes more and more obvious, and the intensity of the diffraction peaks from （103） increases. The optical band gap Eg value increases from 3.261 to 3.286 eV first and then decreases as Na concentration increases from 0.0 to 2.0 at% and then beyond 2.0 at%. The intensity of all the emissions increases with increasing Na concentration and the origins of the violet emission （wavelength in the 400-407 nm） and the blue emission （wavelength at 473 nm） were discussed in detail.

The Third-Order Nonlinear Optical Properties in Cobalt-Doped ZnO Films

We quantitatively investigate the third-order optical nonlinear response of Co-doped ZnO thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering using the Z-scan method. The two-photon absorption and optical Kerr effect are revealed to contribute to the third-order nonlinear response of the Co-doped ZnO films. The nonlinear absorption coefficient β is determined to be approximately 8.8 × 10-5 cm/W and the third-order nonlinear susceptibility X（3） is 2.93 × 10-6 esu. The defect-associated energy levels within the band gap are suggested to be responsible for the enhanced nonlinear response observed in Co-doped ZnO films.

Microstructure and optical properties of nitrogen-doped ZnO film

The nitrogen doping of ZnO film deposited by the magnetron sputtering method is subsequently realized by the hydrothermal synthesis method.The nitrogen-doped ZnO film is preferably（002） oriented.With the increase of hexamethylenetetramine（HMT） solution concentration,the average grain size of the film along the 002 direction almost immediately decreases and then monotonously increases,conversely,the lattice strain first increases and then decreases.The structural evolution of the film surface from compact and even to sparse and rough is attributed to the enhanced nitrogen doping content in the hydrothermal process.The transmission and photoluminescence properties of the film are closely related to grain size,lattice strain,and nitrogen-related defect arising from the enhanced nitrogen doping content with HMT concentration increasing.

Analysis of properties of krypton ion-implanted Zn-polar ZnO thin films

The optical properties of materials are of great significance for their device applications.Different numbers of krypton ions are doped into high-quality Zn-polar ZnO films fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy(MBE)on sapphire substrates through ion implantation.Krypton is chemically inert.The structures,morphologies,and optical properties of films are measured.The x-ray diffraction(XRD)spectra confirm the wurtzite structures of Zn-polar ZnO films.Atomic force microscopy(AFM)results show that the films have pit surface structure and higher roughness after Kr ion implantation.A detailed investigation of the optical properties is performed by using the absorption spectrum,photoluminescence(PL),and spectroscopic ellipsometry(SE).The absorption spectrum is measured by UV-visible spectrophotometer and the bandgap energy is estimated by the Tauc method.The results show that the absorption increases and the bandgap decreases after Kr ion implantation.Moreover,the Kr ion implantation concentration also affects the properties of the film.The ellipsometry results show that the films'refractive index decreases with the Kr ion implantation concentration increasing.These results can conduce to the design and optimization of Kr ion-implanted polar ZnO films for optoelectronic applications.

Effects of Substrate Temperature on Properties of Transparent Conductive Ta-Doped TiO_2 Films Deposited by Radio-Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Ta-doped titanium dioxide films are deposited on fused quartz substrates using the rf magnetron sputtering technique at different substrate temperatures. After post-annealing at 550℃ in a vacuum, all the films are crystallized into the polycrystalline anatase TiO2 structure. The effects of substrate temperature from room temperature up to 350℃ on the structure, morphology, and photoelectric properties of Ta-doped titanium dioxide films are analyzed. The average transmittance in the visible region（400-800 nm） of all films is more than 73%.The resistivity decreases firstly and then increases moderately with the increasing substrate temperature. The polycrystalline film deposited at 150℃ exhibits a lowest resistivity of 7.7 × 10^-4Ω·cm with the highest carrier density of 1.1×10^21 cm^-3 and the Hall mobility of 7.4 cm^2·V^-1s^-1.

Preparation and Some Properties of Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposited Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films Using Single Solid Precursors

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and Aluminium doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were deposited on soda lime glass by Metal Organic Chemical Vapour deposition technique (MOCVD), using prepared compound mixtures of Zinc Acetate di-hydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2⋅2H2O;ZAD) and Aluminium Acetyl-Acetonate (Al(C5H702)3;AAA) precursors at a temperature of 420°C. Effects of the varying mole percent concentrations of AAA precursor additives on the Al dopant concentrations in ZnO were systematically studied. The observations were made via investigations carried out on the morphological, optical, electrical and compositional properties of the deposited thin films. The thin films morphology was found to be strongly dependent on the varying concentration of AAA in the precursor mixtures. The average optical transmittance of the thin films in the uv-visible region was over 85% except 5 mol.% Al. While the energy band gaps were found to be in range of 3.27 - 3.36 eV. There is a blue-shift of the energy band edge observed between 0 and 5 mol.% AAA, which may be due to Burstein-Moss’ band gap widening effect and an opposing band gap renormalization effect at 10 mol.% AAA along with an extra band gap stabilization effect (Roth’s effect) at 15 mol.% AAA in rather quasi-sinusoidal or anomalous behaviour. The optical transmittance and electrical conductivity of ZnO were enhanced with addition of Al dopants. The RBS confirm the presence of Al, Zn and O, and evidence that Al dopants were successfully incorporated into the ZnO.

Investigation of the Effect of Film Thickness and Heat Treatment on the Optical Properties of TeSeSn Thin Films

Glassy substrates TeSeSn thin films were thermally evaporated onto chemically cleaned glass. The as-deposited (as-prepared) and annealed thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical transmission. The optical absorption of the as-prepared and annealed TeSeSn thin films is studied in the wavelength range of 300 nm - 900 nm. The direct optical energy gap (Eg) increases from 1.989 to 2.143 eV with increasing the thickness of the as-prepared films from 100 to 200 nm. The annealed TeSeSn films showed a decrease in the optical energy gap with increasing the annealing temperature. The effect of heat treatment on the lattice dielectric constant (εL) and carrier concentration (N) are also studied.