Transparent conductors—A status review

High-quality ZnO films are receiving increased interest for use in low-loss high-frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, acousto-optic and optical modulators, as buffer layers for III-nitride growth, and as the active material in ultraviolet solid state lasers. In this work, high quality epitaxial ZnO films were grown on R-plane sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The structural, piezoelectric, and optical properties of the ZnO films on R sapphire have been investigated. The epitaxial relationship between ZnO and R-Al2O3 was found to be (1120) ZnO∥(0112) Al2O3, and [0001] ZnO∥[0111] Al2O3. The interface between as-grown ZnO and R sapphire was atomically sharp and semicoherent, as evaluated by transmission electron microscopy. On annealing the films at temperatures above 850 °C, a solid state reaction occurred between ZnO and Al2O3, resulting in the formation of ZnAl2O4 (spinel) at the interface. A 15–20 nm spinel layer formed when the ZnO film was annealed at 850 °C fo...

Structural, optical, and surface acoustic wave properties of epitaxial ZnO films grown on (0112) sapphire by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

XPS and X-ray diffraction studies of aluminum-doped zinc oxide transparent conducting films

Zinc oxide films prepared by sol-gel spin-coating

ZnO:Al coatings were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering of ZnO together with dc magnetron sputtering of Al onto rapidly revolving unheated substrates under weakly oxidizing conditions. Optimized films had ∼1% luminous absorptance, ∼85% thermal infrared reflectance, and ∼5×10−4 Ω cm electrical resistivity at a thickness of ∼0.3 μm. The Al content was ≲2 at. %, as determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction showed ∼50‐nm average crystallite size and a hexagonal wurtzite structure. Spectrophotometric transmittance and reflectance were recorded in the 0.2–50‐μm wavelength interval, and the complex dielectric function was evaluated by computation. The optical data were explained from an effective mass model for n‐doped semiconductors. The Al atoms are singly ionized, and the associated electrons occupy the bottom of the conduction band as free‐electron gas. The Al ions act as pointlike Coulomb scatterers and are screened by the electrons acco...

Optical properties of sputter-deposited ZnO:Al thin films

Polycrystalline transparent semiconducting zinc oxide films have been deposited by the oxidation of diethyl zinc. The film growth rate is controlled by a complex multistep oxidation process which is dominated by radical reactions. The effect of substrate temperature and gas pressures have been studied. Samples deposited between 280 and 350 °C have a conductivity varying from 10−2 to 50 Ω−1 cm−1. The electrical properties of the films which are typical of polycrystalline material with small crystallites are shown to depend very closely on the film growth conditions. A study of oxygen chemisorption at grain boundaries confirms the importance of grain boundary effects in ZnO polycrystalline films.

A. P. Roth

Papers

Properties of zinc oxide films prepared by the oxidation of diethyl zinc