Effects of aluminium doping on zinc oxide transparent thin films grown by filtered vacuum arc deposition

► AZO films prepared by filtered vacuum arc deposition. ► Systematic variation of Al concentration. ► Structural, electrical and optical properties analyzed. ► Optimized system for Al concentration between 4% and 6%. Thin n-type ZnO films doped with different atomic concentrations of aluminium were grown by filtered vacuum arc deposition (FVAD) on glass substrates. The films were deposited using an oxygen working pressure of 2.0mTorr with an arc current running at two 100mspulsess−1. Structural, optical and electrical properties were investigated to understand the effect of Al doping on ZnO films. The best values were found for an ideal aluminium percentage between 4 and 6at.%.