Aluminum doped zinc oxide sputtering targets obtained from nanostructured powders: processing and application

Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCU
Neves, Nuno;Barros, Raquel;Antunes, Elsa;Calado, Joao;Fortunato, Elvira;Martins, Rodrigo;Ferreira, Isabel
Abstract

This work reports the production of ceramic targets based on nanostructured Al-doped ZnO (AZO) powders for sputtering applications. The nanostructured powder is obtained by a new patented process based on the detonation of an emulsion containing both Zn and Al metal precursors in the final proportion of 98:2 wt% (ZnO:Al₂O₃), through which the Al contains is highly uniform distributed over ZnO. Due to the nanostructured powder characteristics, the targets can be sintered at substantially lower temperatures (1150–1250 °C) by conventional sintering, contributing to production costs reduction of ceramic targets and consequently the costs of photovoltaic and displays industries. Electrical resistivity values around 3.0–7.0 × 10⁻³ Ω cm have been obtained depending on final microstructure of the targets. The electro-optical properties of the films produced at room temperature with thicknesses around 360 nm, besides being highly uniform exhibit a resistivity of about 1 × 10⁻³ Ω cm and a transmittance in the visible range above 90%.

Journal

Journal of the European Ceramic Society

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32

ISBN/ISSN

1873-619x

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Issue

16

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Publisher

Elsevier

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DOI

10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2012.08.007