skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Microstructure evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide and Sn-doped indium oxide deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: A comparison

Abstract

The microstructure and morphology evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films on borosilicate glass substrates deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature (RT) and 300 °C were investigated by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM). One-dimensional power spectral density (1DPSD) functions derived from the AFM profiles, which can be used to distinguish different growth mechanisms, were used to compare the microstructure scaling behavior of the thin films. The rms roughness R{sub q} evolves with film thickness as a power law, R{sub q} ∼ d{sub f}{sup β}, and different growth exponents β were found for AZO and ITO films. For AZO films, β of 1.47 and 0.56 are obtained for RT and 300 °C depositions, respectively, which are caused by the high compressive stress in the film at RT and relaxation of the stress at 300 °C. While for ITO films, β{sub 1} = 0.14 and β{sub 2} = 0.64 for RT, and β{sub 1} = 0.89 and β{sub 2} = 0.3 for 300 °C deposition are obtained, respectively, which is related to the strong competition between the surface diffusion and shadowing effect and/or grain growth. Electrical properties of both materials as a function of film thickness were also compared. By the modified Fuchs-Sondheimer model fitting ofmore » the electrical transport in both materials, different nucleation states are pointed out for both types of films.« less

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Institute for Solar Fuels, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, D-14109 Berlin (Germany)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22402888
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 117; Journal Issue: 15; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY; BOROSILICATE GLASS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DIFFUSION; DOPED MATERIALS; ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES; GRAIN GROWTH; INDIUM OXIDES; MICROSTRUCTURE; MORPHOLOGY; RADIOWAVE RADIATION; ROUGHNESS; SHADOW EFFECT; SPECTRAL DENSITY; SPUTTERING; STRESSES; TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE; THIN FILMS; X-RAY DIFFRACTION; ZINC OXIDES

Citation Formats

Nie, Man, Bikowski, Andre, and Ellmer, Klaus. Microstructure evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide and Sn-doped indium oxide deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: A comparison. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1063/1.4916725.
Nie, Man, Bikowski, Andre, & Ellmer, Klaus. Microstructure evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide and Sn-doped indium oxide deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: A comparison. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916725
Nie, Man, Bikowski, Andre, and Ellmer, Klaus. 2015. "Microstructure evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide and Sn-doped indium oxide deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: A comparison". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916725.
@article{osti_22402888,
title = {Microstructure evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide and Sn-doped indium oxide deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering: A comparison},
author = {Nie, Man and Bikowski, Andre and Ellmer, Klaus},
abstractNote = {The microstructure and morphology evolution of Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) and Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films on borosilicate glass substrates deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature (RT) and 300 °C were investigated by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM). One-dimensional power spectral density (1DPSD) functions derived from the AFM profiles, which can be used to distinguish different growth mechanisms, were used to compare the microstructure scaling behavior of the thin films. The rms roughness R{sub q} evolves with film thickness as a power law, R{sub q} ∼ d{sub f}{sup β}, and different growth exponents β were found for AZO and ITO films. For AZO films, β of 1.47 and 0.56 are obtained for RT and 300 °C depositions, respectively, which are caused by the high compressive stress in the film at RT and relaxation of the stress at 300 °C. While for ITO films, β{sub 1} = 0.14 and β{sub 2} = 0.64 for RT, and β{sub 1} = 0.89 and β{sub 2} = 0.3 for 300 °C deposition are obtained, respectively, which is related to the strong competition between the surface diffusion and shadowing effect and/or grain growth. Electrical properties of both materials as a function of film thickness were also compared. By the modified Fuchs-Sondheimer model fitting of the electrical transport in both materials, different nucleation states are pointed out for both types of films.},
doi = {10.1063/1.4916725},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22402888}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
issn = {0021-8979},
number = 15,
volume = 117,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}