The effect of millisecond flash lamp annealing on electrical and structural properties of ZnO:Al/Si structures

Abstract

The effect of millisecond flash lamp annealing (FLA) on aluminum doped ZnO (AZO) films and their interface with Si have been studied. The AZO films were deposited by magnetron sputtering on Si (100) substrates. The electrical and structural properties of the film and AZO/Si structures were characterized by current-voltage, capacitance-voltage, and deep level transient spectroscopy measurements, X-ray diffraction, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The resistivity of the AZO film is reduced to a close to state-of-the-art value of 2 Â 10 À4 X cm after FLA for 3 ms with an average energy density of 29 J/cm 2. In addition, most of the interfacial defects energy levels are simultaneously annealed out, except for one persisting shallow level, tentatively assigned to the vacancy-oxygen complex in Si, which was not affected by FLA. Subsequent to the FLA, the samples were treated in N 2 or forming gas (FG) (N 2 /H 2 , 90/10% mole) ambient at 200-500 C. The latter samples maintained the low resistivity achieved after the FLA, but not the former ones. The interfacial defect level persisting after the FLA is removed by the FG treatment, concurrently as another level emerges at $0.18 eV below the conduction band. The electrical data of the AZO films are discussed in term of point defects controlling the resistivity, and it is argued that the FLA promotes formation of electrically neutral clusters of Zink vacancies (V Zn 's) rather than passivating/compensating complexes between the Al donors and V Zn 's. Published by AIP Publishing.

A review of thermal processing in the subsecond range: semiconductors and beyond

“…The measured resistivity of the ZnO:Al films after FLA was in the range of 1.0×10 −3 Ω cm. Recently, Lindberg et al have shown that the resistivity of magnetron sputtered ZnO:Al on Si followed by FLA can be as low as 2×10 −4 Ω cm [202].…”