Spectroscopic Ellipsometry Study on Surface Roughness and Optical Property of AZO Films Prepared by Direct-Current Magnetron Reactive Sputtering Method

All as-deposited AZO films by direct current magnetron reactive sputtering (DC-MS) exhibit ZnO characteristic (002) and (103) diffraction peaks. Especially, AZO films prepared at 200º C show a strongest (002) c-axis preferential orientation due to the minimum stress along the (002) orientation. The results show that larger stress easily induces a rougher surface. The film real and imaginary parts of dielectric constants show a sharp changes near the optical absorption edge due to the interband direct transition. The film blue and red shifts of the optical absorption edge can be explained in terms of the change of free-electron concentration in as-deposited AZO films.