Investigation of dual ion beam sputtered transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO films

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 24; no. 12; pp. 4919 - 4924
• Main Authors: Pandey, Saurabh Kumar, Pandey, Sushil Kumar, Verma, Shruti, Gupta, M., Sathe, V., Mukherjee, Shaibal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.12.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystal structure; Deposition; Deposition by sputtering; Doped films; Electrical properties; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Gallium; Ion beam sputtering; Materials; Materials Science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Molecular, atomic, ion, and chemical beam epitaxy; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical constants: refractive index, complex dielectric constant, absorption, reflection and transmission coefficients, emissivity; Optical properties; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of bulk materials and thin films; Physics; Zinc oxide; Sapphire Substrate; Oxygen Vacancy; Growth Temperature; High Growth Temperature; Transparent Conducting; Conducting material; Electrical conductivity; Crystal orientation; Doping; Transparent thin film; Optical properties; Optical characteristic; Zinc oxide; Visible spectrum; Raman spectrum; Electrical characteristic; Aluminium oxide; Oxygen; Electrical properties; Vacancy; Ion beam sputtering; Doped materials; Absorption coefficient; Ion beam coating; X ray diffraction; Transmittance; Preferred orientation; Crystalline material; Electric resistivity; Vibrational mode; Gallium addition; Transparent material; Room temperature
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-013-1498-2

Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) transparent conducting films were deposited on sapphire (0001) substrates using dual ion beam sputtering deposition system. The impact of growth temperature on the structural, morphological, elemental, optical, and electrical properties was thoroughly investigated and reported. X-ray diffraction measurements explicitly confirmed that all GZO films had (002) preferred crystal orientation. The film deposited at 400 °C exhibited the narrowest full-width at half-maximum value of 0.24° for (002) crystalline plane and the lowest room temperature electrical resistivity of 4.11 × 10 −3 Ω cm. The Raman spectra demonstrated the vibrational modes at 576 and 650–670 cm −1 , associated with native oxygen vacancies and elemental Ga doping in ZnO lattice, respectively. All doped films showed an overall transmittance of above 95 % in the visible spectra. A correlation between structural, optical, elemental, and electrical properties with GZO growth temperature was established.