Structure and properties of IZO transparent conducting thin films deposited by PLD method

The properties of indium zinc oxide (IZO) films are closely related with the composition of the target, the deposition technique and various process parameters such as the temperature of substrate, the oxygen partial pressure, the laser power, the distance from target to substrate and the film thickness. In this study, transparent conducting oxide, (IZO) thin films with various Zn contents were deposited by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) process at various substrate temperatures on glass substrates. The crystal structures as well as electrical and optical properties of the IZO films were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope, UV spectrometer and Hall measurement. A high quality IZO thin film with a resistivity of 5.3 x 10(-4) and optical transmittance over 85 % was obtained for the x = 0.1 sample when substrate temperature was 400 degrees C. Hall measurements revealed that the electron concentration of IZO thin film (x = 0.1) varied in the range from 0.53 x 10(20) /cm(3) to 4.5 x 10(20) /cm(3), which implies that this IZO film is an n-type degenerate semiconductor. X-ray diffraction data and SEM photographs of IZO films showed that crystallization of IZO film began to occur at 250 degrees C for the x = 0.1 sample and that the crystallization temperatures increased with Zn contents in the IZO thin films.