Low temperature sol-gel technique for processing Al-doped Zinc Oxide films

In this work, Al-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) films are prepared by sol-gel method. Films are highly transparent with transmittance over 90 % at 550 nm. Film parameters are studied varying film thicknesses. Different substrates are used, such as technical glass or Si. Typical film thicknesses are less than 500 nm. In order to optimize the technology for processing of transparent electrode materials based on AZO, influence of aluminium content, annealing time/temperature and annealing environment on the film resistivity are studied. For film characterization 4-probe resistance method, optical spectrophotometry, SEM and energydispersive X-ray spectroscopy, are used.