Applied Surface Science, Vol.483, 545-550, 2019
Superior crystallinity, optical and electrical properties of carbon doped ZnO:Al films at low-temperature deposition
Carbon doped ZnO:Al (AZO) transparent conductive films with superior crystallinity have been fabricated from ZnO:Al/graphene sintered target at low temperature. The carbon doped AZO film with optimal crystallinity is obtained at the deposition temperature of 200 degrees C exhibiting a stronger (002) diffraction intensity and narrower line width than AZO films. For carbon doped AZO films, it is confirmed that carbon enters into ZnO lattice to form Zn-O-C and Zn-C bonds which increases the optical band gap and carrier concentration. Furthermore, the enhanced crystallinity and grain size enhances the Hall mobility and contributes to a lower electrical resistivity and higher optical transparency for carbon doped AZO films. The optimal resistivity is as low as 2.8 x 10(-4) Omega.cm at the deposition temperature of 200 degrees C and the average transmittance is 91.3% at the deposition temperature of 100 degrees C.