Uniformity of AZO conductive film on microchannel plate by atomic layer deposition and effect of annealing on bulk resistance

Uniformity of AZO conductive film on microchannel plate by atomic layer deposition and effect of annealing on bulk resistance

Citation

Zhu, Y., Xu, Z., He, H., Wang, G., Xia, J., Wang, J., Yang, J., & Li, Y. (2023). Uniformity of AZO conductive film on microchannel plate by atomic layer deposition and effect of annealing on bulk resistance. Materials Research Express, 10(8), 086402. 

Keywords

  • atomic layer deposition (ALD)
  • microchannel plate (MCP)
  • AZO conductive films
  • annealing
  • bulk resistance
  • trimethylaluminum (TMA)
  • thickness uniformity
  • composition uniformity

Brief

This article investigates the use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) to create a uniform AZO (ZnO/Al2O3) conductive film within the microchannels of a microchannel plate (MCP) and analyzes the impact of annealing on the film's bulk resistance. 

Summary

The 2023 article "Uniformity of AZO conductive film on microchannel plate by atomic layer deposition and effect of annealing on bulk resistance," published in Materials Research Express, focuses on enhancing the properties of microchannel plates (MCPs) using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The authors achieved uniform deposition of AZO (ZnO/Al₂O₃) film within the MCP microchannels by adjusting the ALD process parameters, particularly by extending the pulse time of trimethylaluminum (TMA) to 500 ms. This addressed the issue of TMA corroding ZnO, which was leading to inconsistencies in the film's thickness and composition.

The study found that annealing the MCP in a nitrogen (N₂) environment at 300 °C for 60 minutes significantly improved its bulk resistance stability. This improvement was attributed to a reduction in both carrier concentration and mobility due to the interaction of nitrogen with the film. The study highlighted that the MCP with a conductive layer structure of ZnO/Al₂O₃ = 7/2, when annealed under these conditions, demonstrated a stable bulk resistance across a range of test voltages. This stability is crucial for the MCP's operational efficiency. 

Origin: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2053-1591/acedee/pdf
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