Correlations between 1/f noise and thermal treatment of Al-doped ZnO thin films deposited by direct current sputtering

Journal Article · Wed May 28 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4879095· OSTI ID:22304390

Guermazi, S. ^[1]; Leroy, G.; Gest, J.; Carru, J. C. ^[2]; Yang, L. ^[3]; Boughzala, H. ^[4]; Duponchel, B. ^[5]

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1. University of Sfax, Research Unit: PMISI, Faculty of Science Sfax, Route de la Soukra Km 3.5-B.P. n° 1171-3000 Sfax (Tunisia)
2. University Lille North of France, ULCO, UDSMM, 62228 Calais (France)
3. Hebei Union University, Electrical Engineering, 46 Xinhua Road, Tangshan 063009, Hebei (China)
4. University of Tunis El-Manar, Faculty of Science Tunis,, Laboratory of Crystallochemistry, 1060 Tunis (Tunisia)
5. University Lille North of France, ULCO, UDSMM, 59140 Dunkerque (France)

Al-doped ZnO thin films (AZO) have been deposited on amorphous glass substrates by DC sputtering at different substrate temperatures T{sub s}. X-Ray diffraction results reveal that AZO thin films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure with (002) preferred orientation. (002) peaks indicate that the crystalline structure of the films is oriented with c-axis perpendicular to the substrate. Three-dimensional (3D) atomic force microscopy images of AZO thin films deposited on glass substrate at 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C, respectively, shows the improvement of the crystallinity and the homogeneity of AZO thin films with T{sub s} which is in agreement with the noise measurements. The noise was characterized between 1 Hz and 100 kHz and we have obtained 1/f spectra. The noise is very sensitive to the crystal structure especially to the orientation of the crystallites which is perpendicular to the substrate and to the grain boundaries which generate a high current flow and a sharp increase in noise. Through time, R{sub sh} and [αμ]{sub eff} increase with the modification of the crystallinity of AZO thin films. Study of noise aging shows that the noise is more sensitive than resistivity for all AZO thin films.

• OSTI ID: 22304390
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALUMINIUM ADDITIONS
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DIRECT CURRENT
DOPED MATERIALS
GLASS
GRAIN BOUNDARIES
GRAIN ORIENTATION
HEAT TREATMENTS
MODIFICATIONS
NOISE
SPECTRA
SPUTTERING
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THIN FILMS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
ZINC OXIDES