Effects of nanosecond laser irradiation on photoelectric properties of AZO/FTO composite films

The aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were deposited on commercial fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) films with glass substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering. Thus, some AZO/FTO composite films with better photoelectric properties were obtained. The AZO/FTO films were irradiated by a nanosecond pulsed laser with a wavelength of 532 nm. The variations of optical transmittance and electrical conductivity for the films irradiated by using various laser parameters were investigated. As experimental results show, the AZO/FTO films subjected to laser treatment with lower laser fluences and higher scan speeds achieved obvious laser annealing effects, so that the optical transmittance increased and the sheet resistance decreased. Conversely, all the films irradiated by using too high laser fluences or too low scan speeds were damaged, which resulted in the remarkable drop of optical transmittance and electrical conductivity. The laser fluence of 1.02 J/cm2 and the scan speed of 10 mm/s were the optimal laser parameters in this study.