The Microstructure And Properties Of MgZrO Composite Protective Layer Deposited By Pulsed Magnetron Sputtering

Alternating Current Plasma Display Panel (AC PDP) is a kind of flat panel display which emits light by gas discharge.But AC PDP has defects such as light emission inefficiency, high price and power consumption. So it is necessary to make improvements in structure, material, and manufacture method. The protective layer contacts directly with the discharge gas filled in AC PDP. Its materials, microstructure and performance not only determine the life-time of the devices, but also act as one of the crucial factors for AC PDP in the reduction of cost and power consumption .Up to now there is no suitable material that acting as protective layer in AC PDP is better than commonly used MgO films. So it is the main way to improvement MgO protective layer through adding other oxides. It has been proven that the protective layer deposited by pulsed magnetron sputtering has good properties. So the microstructure and properties of composite MgO film deposited by pulsed magnetron sputtering were studied.The pulsed magnetron sputtering method was used to deposit MgZrO composite protective layer. The effect of Zr doping content, substrate bias, and unbalance magnetron sputtering on the microstructure and properties of composite films were studied. It was found that Zr content, substrate bias, and unbalance magnetron sputtering have obviously effects on microstructure, surface morphologies, residual stress and transmission coefficient of MgZrO film. When Zr content of the film is about 2.03at.% and the films were deposited under -150V substrate bias, the film has strongest (200) preferred orientation, smallest grain size, lowest roughness value. At the same time there were less porous in the films. It also was found that this kind film have high residual compress stress and high transmission coefficient of visible light. Comparing with the film that deposited by balanced magnetron sputtering, MgZrO film deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering has higher oxygen content, smoother surface, and smaller particles. At the same time this kind film has higher transmission coefficient of visible light.The result of the study is very useful for Ac PDP to select suitable protective layer materials and optimize manufacture parameter.