Preparation of AZO Thin Films by Level Sedimentation and its Optical and Electrical Properties

AZO precursor solution was prepared with dihydrate zinc acetate as raw materials, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether and ethanol as solvent, ethanolamine as a stabilizer, hexahydrate aluminum chloride as the dopant. The AZO thin films were prepared on glass substrates by using homemade liquid level settlement device. The orthogonal design of the experimental conditions was made to optimize the conditions of this method for the preparation of AZO thin films. The films were analyzed by XRD, UV-Vis, AFM, four-probe, step profiler and other methods. The results show that the optimal conditions for preparation of AZO thin films were as follows: the sol concentration was 0.5mol/L, the Al3+/Zn2+ concentration ratio was 4 at%, the drying temperature was 100 °C for 10 minutes, the pretreatment temperature was 450 °C, the coating layers were 20, the level settling velocity was 5 cm/min, the pretreatment time was 10 minutes, the annealing temperature was 550 °C for 2 h. The average transmittance in visible light and the sheet resistance of the AZO thin films were 88% and 536Ω/□, respectively.