Hydrogen Plasma Annealing of ZnO Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering with Third Electrode

Abstract

Al doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited using a radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering apparatus with a mesh grid electrode. Improvement of crystalline uniformity was achieved by the use of an appropriate negative grid bias to effectively suppress the bombardment of high-energy charged particles onto the film surface. The uniformity of the film's electronic properties, such as resistivity, carrier concentration and Hall mobility, was also improved using the sputtering method. Hydrogen plasma annealing was investigated to further decrease the resistivity of the ZnO films and the carrier concentration was increased by 1-2×10²⁰cm^-3 without decrease in the Hall mobility.