• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.629-635
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• 2010

Abstract In this study characteristics of Al-doped ZnO thin film by HIPIMS (High power impulse sputtering) are discussed. Deposition speed of HIPIMS with conventional balanced magnetic field is measured at about 3 nm/min, which is 30% of that of conventional RF sputtering process with the same working pressure. To generate additional magnetic flux and increase sputtering speed, electromagnetic coil is mounted at the back side of target. Under unbalanced magnetic flux from electromagnet with 1.5A coil current, deposition speed of AZO thin film is increased from 3 nm/min to 4.4 nm/min. This new value originates from the decline of particles near target surface due to the local magnetic flux going toward substrate from electromagnet. AZO film sputtered by HIPIMS process shows very smooth and dense film surface for which surface roughness is measured from 0.4 nm to 1 nm. There are no voids or defects in morphology of AZO films with varying of magnetic field. When coil current is increased from 0A to 1A, transmittance of AZO thin film decreases from 80% to 77%. Specific resistance is measured at about $2.9{\times}10-2\Omega{\cdot}cm$. AZO film shows C-axis oriented structure and its grain size is calculated at about 5.3 nm, which is lower than grain size in conventional sputtering.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.145-150
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• 2004

We have investigated the structural, electrical and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films grown on glass substrate by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering as functions of pulse frequency and substrate temperature. A highly c-axis oriented AZO thin film is grown in perpendicular to the substrate when pulse frequency of 30 kHz and substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ was applied. Under this optimized growth condition, the resistivity of AZO thin films exhibited $7.40\times 10^{-4}\Omega \textrm{cm}$. This indicated that the decrease of film resistivity resulted from the improvement of film crystallinity. The optical transmittance spectra of the films showed a very high transmittance of 85∼90 % in the visible wavelength region and exhibited the absorption edge of about 350 nm. The results show the potential application for transparent conductivity oxide (TCO) thin films.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.77-81
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• 2010

The AZO thin films were deposited on the corning 1737 glass plate by the RF magnetron sputtering and effects of working pressure and oxygen contents on the electrical properties were investigated. XRD spectra showed a preferred orientation along the c-axis and a minimum FWHM for the 70mTorr. From the surface analysis (AFM), the number of crystal grain of AZO thin film increased as working pressure increased. The film deposited with 70mTorr of working pressure showed n-type semiconductor characteristic having suitable resistivity $-1.59{\times}10^{-2}{\Omega}cm$, carrier concentration $-10.1{\times}10^{19}cm^{-3}$, and mobility $-4.35cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ while other films by 7 mTorr, 20 mTorr of working pressure closed to metallic films. The films including the oxygen represent stoichiometric composition similar to the oxide. The transmittance of the film was over 85% in the visible light range regardless of the changes in working pressure and oxygen contents.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2008.07a
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• pp.1281-1282
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• 2008

Low cost TCO(Transparent Conductive oxide) thin films were prepared by 3" DC/RF magnetron sputtering systems. For the AZO preparation processes a 99.99% AZO target (Zn: 98 wt.%, $Al_2O_3$: 2 wt.%) was used. In order to verify feasibility of the AZO thin films to organic light emitting device (OLED) application, test organic light emitting device was fabricated based on AZO as TCO, TPD as hole transporting layer (HTL), Alq3 as both emitting layer (EML) and electron transporting layer (ETL), and aluminium as cathode, where the both ITO and AZO surfaces were treated using $O_2$ RF plasma. The I-V characteristics of the AZO/TPD/Alq3/Al OLEDs were evaluated. As the results, the performance of the OLEDs with AZO as transparent conducting anode could be useable.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.69-71
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• 2005

In this study, Al doped ZnO(AZO)thin film were prepared on glass substrates by FTS(Facing targets Sputtering) system. We investigated electrical.. optical and structural properties of AZO thin film under the substrate temperature of the R.T. $100^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, respectively, From XRD measurements it was found the crystallization of AZO thin film was increased with increasing the substrate temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.240-240
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• 2011

투명전도성 산화물 박막은 넓은 밴드갭을 가지고 있으며 금속 도핑에 따라서 낮은 저항과 높은 투과도를 가지고 있다. 이러한 투명전도성 산화물 박막은 광학 디바이스, 유기광전자 디바이스(OLED) 및 태양전지 등 다양한 분야에 응용이 되고 있다. 또한 이러한 투명전도성 산화물 박막중에서도 AZO 박막은 실리콘 태양전지의 전극으로 사용이 되며, 이를 식각하여 다양한 모양을 가지는 박막으로 성장시킬 경우 빛의 산란 및 포집 효과에 의해서 태양전지의 current density를 증가시키는 요인이 된다. 본 연구에서는 AZO 박막을 RF magnetron sputtering법을 이용하여 유리 기판위에 성장하였다. 또한, 성장된 AZO 박막은 염산, 질산, 황산, 인산, 초산 등의 다양한 산성용액을 이용하여 식각을 하였다. 그 결과 식각률은 식각용액의 농도 및 pH에 따라서 다양한 변화를 보였으며, 식각된 AZO 박막은 실리콘 태양전지에 응용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.191.1-191.1
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• 2013

현재 산업계 전반적으로 사용되고 있는 박막형 태양전지 투명 전도막의 재료로는 ITO 와 Al, In, Ga, B, Si, F 등으로 도핑된 ZnO 박막이 사용되고 있으며, 그 중에서도 Al 이 도핑된 ZnO 박막은 넓은 밴드갭을 가진 n-type 반도체로서, 적외선 및 가시광 영역에서의 높은 투과성과 우수한 전도성을 가지며, 고온에서 안정된 전기적 특성, 낮은 원가 등의 장점을 지녀 그 응용 연구가 활발히 이루어지고 있다 [1]. 본 연구에서는 RF magnetron Sputter 법을 이용하여 Flexible 기판 위에 AZO 박막을 증착하였다. 실험변수로는 RF power, Pressure등을 이용하였고, 최적조건에서의 박막의 투과도는 90%이상, 면저항은 30 ${\Omega}/{\square}$ 이하를 나타내었다. 그리고 (주)인포비온에서 원천기술을 갖고있는 EBA technology를 이용하여 후처리 하여 전기적, 광학적, 구조적인 특성의 변화를 관찰하였다. AZO 박막의 두께를 측정하기 위해 ${\alpha}-step$과 SEM을 이용하였고, 투과도는 UV-Vis spectrometer를 사용하여 박막의 투과도 변화를 관찰 하였다. 전기적인 특성은 4-Point probe를 이용하여 측정하였다. 또한, 박막의 결정성과 거칠기의 변화는 XRD(X-ray Diffraction)와 원자간력현미경(Atomic Force Microscope; AFM) 을 이용하여 측정하였으며, 전기 광학적 특성 변화는 Figure Of Merit(FOM) 수치로 분석하였다. 본 연구에서 AZO 박막의 특성은 EBA 조사 후 특성의 향상이 이루어지는 것을 관찰할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.66-72
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• 2010

In this paper, AZO thin film was deposited on polyethylene terephthalate(PET) substrate by r. f. magnetron sputtering method from a ZnO target mixed with 2[wt%] Al2O3. The flexible film-typed dye sensitized solar cell(F-DSC) was fabricated and photo-electric conversion efficiency was investigated. The results showed that the minimum resistivity and the maximum deposition rate of AZO conducting film were recorded as $1.8{\times}10^{-3}[{\Omega}{\cdot}cm]$ and 25.5[nm/min], respectively at r.f. power of 220[W]. From the analysis of XPS data an improvement of electrical resistivity or an increase in carrier concentration with increasing sputtering power may be related to the generation of lattice imperfections as a result of increasing component ratio of O1s/Zn2p, which generates donor carriers or active growth of crystalline grain. The photo-electric conversion efficiency of F-DSC with AZO conducting electrode was over 2.79[%], which was comparable as that with commercially available ITO electrode.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.47.2-47.2
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• 2011

High-efficient transparent conductive oxide (TCO) film-embedding Si heterojunction solar cells were fabricated. An improved crystalline indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film was grown on an Al-doped ZnO (AZO) template upon hetero-epitaxial growth. This double TCO-layered Si solar cell provided significantly enhanced efficiency of 9.23 % as compared to the single TCO/Si devices. The effective arrangement of TCO films (ITO/AZO) provides a good interface, resulting in the enhanced photovoltaic performances. It discusses TCO film arrangement scheme for efficient TCO-layered heterojunction solar cells.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.07a
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• pp.242-243
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• 2007

Highly transparent conducting aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were deposited on Corning glass substrate using an Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposition technology. AZO thin films deposited with 650nm thickness showed the best electrical properties of the electrical resistivity of $4.6{\times}10^{-4}[{\Omega}{\cdot}cm]$, a carrier concentration of $9.3{\times}10^{20}[cm^{-3}]$, and a carrier mobility of $31[cm^2/V{\cdot}s]$. Besides, the optical transmittance spectra in visible region (200-800nm) of AZO thin films show an high average transmittance over 90%.