Fabrication of aluminum doped zinc oxide for transparent conductive applications

Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were deposited on soda-lime glass substrates using the Radio Frequency (RF) Magnetron Sputtering technique with a deposition duration of one hour. Following deposition, the films underwent thermal annealing in a furnace at room temperature (control), 200 °C, 300 °C, and 400 °C for one hour under ambient atmospheric conditions. The effects of annealing temperature on the optical and electrical properties of the AZO films were characterized using UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry and Hall Effect measurements. UVVis analysis revealed that all thin films exhibited optical transmittance above 80%. Hall Effect measurements indicated that increasing the annealing temperature led to higher electrical resistivity, accompanied by a decrease in both carrier mobility and electrical conductivity. Among the samples, the film annealed at 200 °C demonstrated the most favourable properties, with an optical transmittance exceeding 80%, carrier mobility of 3.0 cm²/V·s, and electrical conductivity of 24.38 (Ω·cm)⁻¹. These findings suggest that annealing at 200 °C optimizes the balance between optical transparency and electrical performance, making AZO films suitable for transparent conductive applications.