Research On The Preparation And Electron Irradiation Effects Of AZO Nano-structure Arrays Thin Films

Transparent conductive oxide films have become one of the most importantfunctional materials. TCO films have been widely used in solar cells, flat-panel displayand other photoelectric devices. At present, Al-doped ZnO(AZO) films have become thefocus of research. In this paper, AZO nano-structure thin films were prepared by RFmagnetron sputtering technology and low-temperature hydrothermal method. The filmswere characterized by UV-Vis light spectrophotometer, X-ray diffraction, SEM,four-point probes. The effects of the electron irradiation on the microstructure andproperties of the AZO films were investigated.The RF magnetron sputtering technology was used to prepare the AZO films withdense surface and high preferential orientation in (002) crystallographic direction. Theeffects of the process parameters, such as sputtering power and pressure, were studied inthis paper. The results showed that the AZO thin films with excellent electrical andoptical properties were deposited when sputtering power is200W and the sputteringpressure is0.1Pa. The lowest surface resistance is0.65kΩ/□, and its average visiblelight transmittance of the films is80.4%. The AZO nano-structure films were preparedon the seed layer by low-temperature hydrothermal method. The AZO films withnano-structure also have high preferential orientation in (002) crystallographic direction,belong to wurtzite structure. The paper studied on the properties and morphology of theAZO thin films with different aluminum doping concentration. The results showed thatthe AZO nano-structure arrays thin films have uniform nano-rod arrays and betterproperties when the aluminum doping concentration is3%. The surface resistance of thethin films is9.86kΩ/□when the aluminum doping concentration is3%, and the averagevisible light transmittance is above80%. In addition, this paper discussed the change ofthe AZO thin films along with the reaction time. The diameter of AZO nano-rod arraysdecreased as a result of reaction time’s increase. The AZO nano-structure thin films hada small increase in the surface resistance though the visible light transmittance had adramatic decline.The AZO thin films were irradiated by the60keV electrons. The effects of theelectron irradiation on the AZO thin films were investigated preliminarily in this paper.It established the foundation for the further research on the electron irradiation effects ofAZO thin films. The results indicated the surface resistances of the AZO thin filmsprepared by two different methods were decreased under the low electron fluence.When the electron fluence increased to1×1016e/cm2, the surface resistances of theAZO thin films were increased. In addition, the average visible light transmittances ofAZO thin films declined with the increase of the electron irradiation fluence.