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Al doped ZnO thin film deposition by thermionic vacuum arc

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Abstract

ZnO thin films are widely used in many application areas due to its various properties. The properties of the ZnO thin film strongly depend on the manufacturing method, doping elements and ratio and substrate material. In this paper, ZnO material was doped by Al element. Thermionic vacuum arc is a fast deposition technology for Al doped ZnO thin film manufacturing. TVA is physical vapor deposition technology, using anodic vacuum arc. It works under the high vacuum condition. The thin films were deposited onto amorphous glass, semi-crystal PET and single crystal Si substrate. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the Al doped ZnO thin films are presented. Thin films are in polycrystalline form and have high crystalline quality. According to the XRD analysis, metal oxide phases (ZnO and Al2O3) and bi-metal oxide (ZnAl2O4) phases were detected. It was found that crystallite sizes strongly depend on the substrate. The crystallite size of the thin film deposited on the Si substrate is approximately 100 nm. For the other sample, the value is very small; it is just about 20 nm. Considering the optical results of the samples, all films are transparent in visible region. Band gap and electronic structures of the Al doped ZnO thin films were investigated by optical method, photoluminescence and Raman spectra. The band gaps of the thin films were shifted towards to the high-energy region. Any impurity in deposited thin films cannot detect by the analyses devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Mustafa Özgür, Suat Pat, Reza Mohammadigharehbagh, Uğur Demirkol, Saliha Elmas & Şadan Korkmaz

  2. Department of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Caner Musaoğlu

  3. Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Bozok University, Akdağmağdeni, Yozgat, Turkey

    Soner Özen

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  1. Mustafa Özgür
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  2. Suat Pat
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  3. Reza Mohammadigharehbagh
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Correspondence to Suat Pat.

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Özgür, M., Pat, S., Mohammadigharehbagh, R. et al. Al doped ZnO thin film deposition by thermionic vacuum arc. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 624–630 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0329-x

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