Tesis
“Development and Characterization of Aluminum Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films by the Sol-Gel Technique”
Autor
MARCELA CRISTINA MIRELES RAMIREZ
Institución
Resumen
Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) was elaborated by the sol-gel method and
deposited onto glass slides by spin coating. Aluminum chloride or nitrate was used as
doping precursor. The process was carried out in the presence and absence of oxygen.
Films were thermal treated in a furnace at 500 °C in air or forming gas. Main physical,
optical, chemical and electrical properties were characterized. Surface undesired
characteristics, such as cracks and wrinkles were found to decrease with the increase in
synthesis temperature. Amorphous, polycrystalline and polycrystalline preferentially
oriented along the c-axis thin films were obtained through a process carried out in the
absence, partial presence and presence of air, respectively The obtained films are highly
transparent in the visible spectrum. XPS results showed an Al 2p3/2 peak with binding
energy of 73.4 eV, which is good indicative of the substitutional nature of the introduced
aluminum; desirable behavior on doped materials. Sheet resistance was found to decrease
with the increase in synthesis temperature. Overall, films elaborated with aluminum nitrate
had better characteristics.