Electrical resistivity change in Al:ZnO thin films dynamically deposited by bipolar pulsed direct-current sputtering and a remote plasma source

The Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films for a transparent conducting oxide in solar cell devices were deposited by bipolar pulsed dc magnetron sputtering. This work was performed in an in-line type system and investigated AZO films in a static deposition mode and dynamic one, which is more important in the practical fields. Because of this dynamic deposition process, the zigzagged columnar structure was observed. This resulted in the decreasing electrical property, optical properties, and surface roughness. As a deposition in the dynamic mode, the resistivity increased from 1.64x10-3 to 2.50x10-3 Ω cm, as compared to that in the static mode, and the transmittance also decreased from 83.9% to 78.3%. To recover the disadvantage, a remote plasma source (RPS) was supported between the substrate and target for reducing zigzagged formation during the deposition. The deposition rate decreased by using RPS, but the electrical and optical properties of films got better than only dynamic mode. The resistivity and transmittance in the dynamic mode using RPS were 2.1x10-3 Ω cm and 85.5%, respectively. In this study, the authors found the possibility to advance the electrical and optical properties of AZO thin films in the industry mode.