Effects of Sputtering Power on Optical and Electrical Properties of Al-doped ZnO Thin Film on Flexible Substrates

AZO thin films were deposited using a magnetron sputtering system with an AZO target (with 3wt% Al2O3) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates with pre-strain. The effect of sputtering power on the optical and electrical properties of AZO films was investigated. For samples deposited on pre-strained PET substrates, X-ray diffraction was used to determine the c-axis orientation of AZO films deposited at 60, 80, and 100 W. Results show that resistivity decreased with increasing sputtering power, which might result from the better crystalline structure and fewer grain boundaries obtained at high power. The transmittance increased when the power was increased from 60 to 100 W. The absorption edge thus decreased for AZO film deposited at 100 W.