EFFECT OF RAPID THERMAL ANNEALING TREATMENT ON THE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF NANOCRYSTALLINE ZINC OXIDE DOPED WITH ALUMINUM

Spherical nanocrystalline aluminum-doped zinc oxide (nc-AZO) has shown an improvement in conductivity and optical properties under rapid thermal annealing (RTA) treatment. The typical treatment at 500℃ for 1 h. on nc-AZO provides low electrical conductivity and low photocurrent, whereas RTA treatment performs better properties with above 85% optical transmittance and higher electrical conductivity. The diameter size of nano-spherical nc-AZO is around at 10-30 nm providing the energy band gap between 3.2 eV and 3.4 eV. Thus, the high electrical and optical qualities of such nc-AZO films can be required for an electron transport layer and transparent contact electrodes for semiconductor devices.