Characterization of AZO thin films grown on various substrates by using facing target sputtering system

Al doped ZnO(AZO) films as a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode were deposited on glass, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at room temperature by a conventional rf-magneton sputtering (CMS) and a facing target sputtering (FTS) using Al2O3 and ZnO targets. In order to investigation of AZO properties, the structural, surface morphology, electrical, and optical characteristics of AZO films were respectively analyzed. The resistivities of AZO films using FTS system were $6.50{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on glass, $7.0{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on PEN, and $7.4{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on PET substrates, while the values of AZO films using CMS system were $7.6{\times}10-4{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on glass, $1.20{\times}10-3{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on PEN, and $1.58{\times}10-3{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ on PET substrates. The AZO-films deposited by FTS system showed uniform surface compared to those of the films by CMS system. We thought that the films deposited by FTS system had low stress due to bombardment of high energetic particles during CMS process, resulted in enhanced electrical conductivity and crystalline quality by highly c-axis preferred orientation and closely packed nano-crystalline of AZO films using FTS system.