Login (DCU Staff Only)
Login (DCU Staff Only)

DORAS | DCU Research Repository

Explore open access research and scholarly works from DCU

Advanced Search

Highly transparent and reproducible nanocrystalline ZnO and AZO thin films grown by room temperature pulsed-laser deposition on flexible zeonor plastic substrates

Inguva, Saikumar, Vijayaraghavan, Rajani K. orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-1096-448X, McGlynn, Enda orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-3412-9035 and Mosnier, Jean-Paul orcid logoORCID: 0000-0002-9312-1754 (2015) Highly transparent and reproducible nanocrystalline ZnO and AZO thin films grown by room temperature pulsed-laser deposition on flexible zeonor plastic substrates. Materials Research Express, 2 (9). 096401-096401. ISSN 2053-1591

Abstract
Zeonor plastics are highly versatile due to exceptional optical and mechanical properties which make them the choice material in many novel applications. For potential use in flexible transparent optoelectronic applications, we have investigated Zeonor plastics as flexible substrates for the deposition of highly transparent ZnO and AZO thin films. Films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature in oxygen ambient pressures of 75, 150 and 300 mTorr. The growth rate, surface morphology, hydrophobicity and the structural, optical and electrical properties of as grown films with thicknesses∼65–420 nm were recorded for the three oxygen pressures. The growth rates were found to be highly linear both as a function of film thickness and oxygen pressure, indicating high reproducibility. All the films were optically smooth, hydrophobic and nanostructured with lateral grain shapes of∼150 nm wide. This was found compatible with the deposition of condensed nanoclusters, formed in the ablation plume, on a cold and amorphous substrate. Films were nanocrystalline (wurtzite structure), c-axis oriented, with average crystallite size∼22 nm for ZnO and∼16 nm for AZO. In-plane compressive stress values of 2–3 GPa for ZnO films and 0.5 GPa forAZO films were found. Films also displayed high transmission greater than 95% in some cases, in the 400–800 nmwavelength range. The low temperature photoluminescence spectra of all the ZnO and AZO films showed intense near band edge emission. A considerable spread from semi-insulating to n-type conductive was observed for the films, with resistivity∼103 Ω cm and Hall mobility in 4–14 cm2 V−1 s−1 range, showing marked dependences on film thickness and oxygen pressure. Applications in the fields of microfluidic devices and flexible electronics for these ZnO and AZO films are suggested.
Metadata
Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:ZnO; Thin film
Subjects:Engineering > Materials
Physical Sciences > Spectrum analysis
Physical Sciences > Nanotechnology
Physical Sciences > Crystallography
Physical Sciences > Semiconductors
DCU Faculties and Centres:Research Initiatives and Centres > National Centre for Plasma Science and Technology (NCPST)
DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science and Health > School of Physical Sciences
Publisher:Institute of Physics
Official URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2053-1591/2/9/096401
Copyright Information:© 2015 IOP
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:20784
Deposited On:22 Sep 2015 12:25 by Enda Mcglynn . Last Modified 07 Oct 2021 12:17
Documents

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of Materials Research Express, 2 (2015) article # 096401]
Preview
PDF (Materials Research Express, 2 (2015) article # 096401) - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
2MB
Downloads

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Archive Staff Only: edit this record