Systematic investigations on morphological properties of aluminum-doped zinc oxide transparent electrode prepared from pulsed laser deposition and its electrochromic application

Abstract

Transparent electrode (TE) is considered as one of the fundamental components in the optoelectronics. The surface of TE layer plays a crucial role in the charge-transport characteristics. Herein, a systematic investigation on the morphological properties of the laser-ablated aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films as a TE material prepared from various laser fluences is demonstrated. It is revealed that the electrical properties of AZO films are strongly associated with their surface properties rather than that of the bulk film. As the laser fluence increased, the concentration of Al-dopant in AZO films is decreased which directly impacts on the electrical properties. Such vanishment is originated from the bombardment of the incident particles/ions with excessive kinetic energy on film's surface during the deposition. Moreover, the optimized AZO film with low resistivity (1.13 × 10−3 Ω cm) and high optical transmittance (over 90%) achieved from controlling the laser fluence at 0.7 J/cm2 is employed as TE layer in the electrochromic device. Our results highlight that the surface properties of TE layer are very critical for electronic performance.