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Effects of laser pulse energy on the structural, optical and electrical properties of pulsed laser deposited Ga-doped ZnO thin films

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Abstract

Transparent conducting Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effects of laser pulse energy ranging from 80 to 200 mJ on microstructural, surface morphology, electrical and optical properties of GZO films were investigated in detail. XRD patterns have shown that all samples were hexagonal wurtzite structure presenting predominant orientation along the (002) c-axis direction, and the film obtained at 160 mJ showed the optimal crystallinity. The Raman spectra demonstrate that GZO films have oxygen vacancies, Zinc interstitials, and residual stress. The compact, homogenous and flat surface morphology of GZO films were observed by AFM. Hall effect measurements revealed that the electrical properties of samples were dominated largely by the crystallinity and the minimum resistivity of 6.10 × 10−4 Ω cm was obtained when GZO film grown at 160 mJ. Optical transmission spectra displayed an average transmittance higher than 90.6% for all GZO samples in the visible range. The film deposited at 160 mJ exhibited the maximum figure of merit of 22.70 × 10−3 Ω−1, owing to the low resistivity and high transmittance.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61474030), the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2015GXNSFAA139265), the Foundation of Guangxi Science & Technology Development Project (1598008-15) and the Foundation of Nanning Municipal Science & Technology Development Project (20151268).

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  1. Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Materials and Nonferrous Metal, Ministry of Education, College of Resourrces, Environmental and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, People’s Republic of China

    Guankong Mo, Zimei Tang, Huan He, Jiahui Liu, Yuechun Fu & Xiaoming Shen

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  1. Guankong Mo
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Mo, G., Tang, Z., He, H. et al. Effects of laser pulse energy on the structural, optical and electrical properties of pulsed laser deposited Ga-doped ZnO thin films. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 12804–12811 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-019-01646-w

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