Sputtering deposition of Al-doped zinc oxide thin films using mixed powder targets

Sputtering deposition generally uses high-density bulk targets. Such a fabrication process has various problems including deterioration of the material during heating and difficulty in mixing a large number of materials in precise proportions. However, these problems can be solved by using a powder target. In this study, we prepared Al-doped ZnO (AZO) as transparent conductive thin films by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering with powder and bulk targets. Both the powder and bulk targets formed crystalline structures. The ZnO (002) peak was observed in the X-ray diffraction measurements. The mean transparency and resistivity of the films prepared with the powder target were 82% and 0.548Ωcm, respectively. The deposition rate with the powder target was lower than that with the bulk target.