Transparent Conductive Titanium and Fluorine Co-doped Zinc Oxide Films

Abstract

Aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) was used to deposit highly transparent and conductive titanium or fluorine-doped and titanium-fluorine co-doped ZnO thin films on glass substrate at 450 oC. All films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM), and four-point probe. The films were 600-680 nm thick, crystalline, and highly transparent (80-87%). The co-doped film consisted of 0.70 at.% titanium and 1 at.% fluorine, and displayed a charger carrier mobility, charge carrier concentration, and a minimum resistivity of 8.4 cm2 V-1 s-1, 3.97 x 1020 cm-3, and 1.69 x 10-3 Ω cm, respectively. A band gap of 3.6 eV was observed for the co-doped film. Compared to the undoped and singly doped films, the co-doped film displayed a notably higher structure morphology (more homogenous grains with well-defined boundaries) suitable for transparent conducting oxide applications.

Keywords: Transparent conducting oxides Co-doped Zinc oxide Electronic materials Wide band gap material.