Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 January 2018
In the current work, we evaluate the influence of the processing parameters on the electrical properties of aluminium zinc oxide (AZO) thin films produced by airbrush spray-pyrolysis deposition technique. Spray-deposited AZO thin-films were produced with Al:Zn molar ratios varying from 0 % (pure ZnO) up to 30 %, using aluminium acetate and zinc acetate as organic precursors and water as solvent. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) were used to monitor the metal-oxide formation from the organic precursors as a function of the temperature. The results show that a temperature of 400 °C is necessary to completely degrade the organic phase and to obtain the desired inorganic metal-oxides films. The electrical properties of the TMOs were evaluated by d.c. current-voltage (I-V) analysis using planar thermally evaporated Al electrodes on top of the TMO layer, with different aspect ratios (1/18, 2/9, 5/13, 5/9 and 8/9). The lowest sheet resistance was obtained for AZO films at a molar Al concentration of 5 %. We also observed that, after carrying out a post-annealing treatment (30 mbar, 150 °C) the samples presented a decrease on the sheet resistance superior to 60 %, in comparison to the samples before the treatment.