Structural and physical properties of ZnO:Al films grown on glass by direct current magnetron sputtering with the oblique target

ZnO:Al films were deposited on glass substrates at 300 K and 673 K by direct current magnetron sputtering with the oblique target. The Ar pressure was adjusted to 0.4 Pa and 1.2 Pa, respectively. All the films have a wurtzite structure and grow with a c-axis orientation in the film growth direction. The films grow mainly with columnar grains perpendicular to the substrate and some granular grains also exist in the films. The film deposited at 673 K and 0.4 Pa has the largest grains whereas that prepared at 300 K and 0.4 Pa consists of the smallest grains and is porous. The films exhibit an n-type semiconducting behavior at room temperature. The ZnO:Al film deposited at 673 K and 0.4 Pa has the lowest resistivity (3.40 × 10⁻³ Ω cm), the highest free electron concentration (4.63 × 10²⁰ cm⁻³) and a moderate Hall mobility (4.0 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹). The film deposited at 300 K and 0.4 Pa has the highest resistivity and the lowest free electron concentration and Hall mobility. A temperature dependence of the resistivity reveals that the carrier transport mechanism is Mott’s variable range hopping in the temperature region below 100 K and thermally activated band conduction above 215 K. The activation energy for the film deposited at 300 K and 0.4 Pa is 41 meV and that for the other films is about 35 meV. All the films have an average optical transmittance of over 85% in the visible wavelength range. The absorption edge of the film deposited at 300 K and 0.4 Pa shifts to the longer wavelength (redshift) relative to the films prepared under the other conditions.