Low temperature sputter-deposited ZnO films with enhanced Hall mobility using excimer laser post-processing

TSAKONAS, C, KUZNETSOV, V. L., CRANTON, W. M., KALFAGIANNIS, N., ABUSABEE, K.M., KOUTSOGEORGIS, D.C., ABEYWICKRAMA, N. and EDWARDS, P.P. (2017). Low temperature sputter-deposited ZnO films with enhanced Hall mobility using excimer laser post-processing. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 50 (48).

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Abstract

We report the low temperature (T<70 ºC) fabrication of ZnO thin films (~140 nm) with Hall mobility of up to 17.3 cm2 V-1 s-1 making them suitable for thin film transistor (TFT) applications. The films were deposited by rf magnetron sputtering at T<70 ºC and subsequently laser processed in ambient temperature in order to modify the Hall mobility and carrier concentration. Medium-to-low energy laser radiation densities and a high number of pulses were used to avoid damaging the films. Laser annealing of the films after aging in the lab under 25% - 35% relative humidity and at an average illuminance of 120 lux resulted in an overall higher mobility and relatively low carrier concentration in comparison to the non-aged films that were laser processed immediately after deposition. A maximum overall measured Hall mobility of 17.3 cm2 V-1s-1 at a carrier density of 2.3×1018 cm-3 was measured from a 1 GΩ as deposited and aged film after the laser treatment. We suggest that the aging of non-processed films reduces structural defects mainly at grain boundaries by air species chemisorption, with concomitant increase in thermal conductivity so that laser processing can have an enhancing effect. Such a processing combination can act synergistically and produce suitable active layers for TFT applications with low temperature processing requirements.

Item Type:	Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Materials and Engineering Research Institute > Advanced Coatings and Composites Research Centre
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Arts > Department of Engineering and Mathematics
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aa9316
Depositing User:	Wayne Cranton
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2017 08:56
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 08:01
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/17141

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