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AssigneeJX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation
InventorsMasakatsu Ikisawa, Masataka Yahagi
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Provided is a zinc oxide transparent electric conductor having zinc oxide (ZnO) as its principal component, containing an element to become an n-type dopant to zinc oxide, containing metal M in which P(P=(G+H mix)/RT, wherein G is the Gibbs free energy at temperature T of the metal, H mix is the mixing enthalpy at temperature T of zinc oxide and the metal, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature) as a parameter showing the wettability with zinc oxide is 6 or less and in which its resistivity is smaller than the resistivity of zinc oxide added with the n-type dopant, and wherein concentration of metal M in relation to the total atomicity of zinc and the n-type dopant and metal M, which are all metal atoms configuring the zinc oxide transparent electric conductor, is 0.05 to 2.0 at %. In the development of a transparent electric conductor that does not contain raw material In which is expensive and with concern of resource depletion, provided is a low resistivity transparent electric conductor by exceeding the limits of the conventional development technique of the single dopant method, presenting guidelines for selecting a secondary additive material effective in achieving low resistivity, and indicating types of specific materials and the appropriate concentration range.
A zinc oxide transparent electric conductor having zinc oxide (ZnO) as its principal component, containing an element to become an n-type dopant to zinc oxide, containing metal M in which P(P=(ΔG0+ΔHx(M))/RT, wherein ΔG0 is the standard free energy change of redox reaction of metal M and zinc oxide, ΔHx(M) is the heat of dissolution of zinc as a constituent metal element of zinc oxide to metal M, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature) as a parameter showing the wettability with zinc oxide is 6 or less and in which its resistivity is smaller than the resistivity of zinc oxide added with the n-type dopant, and wherein concentration of metal M in relation to the total atomicity of zinc and the n-type dopant and metal M, which are all metal atoms configuring the zinc oxide transparent electric conductor, is 0.05 to 2.0 at %.
A sputtering target for forming a zinc oxide transparent electric conductor having zinc oxide (ZnO) as its principal component, containing an element to become an n-type dopant to zinc oxide, containing metal M in which P(P=(ΔG0+ΔHx(M))/RT, wherein ΔG0 is the standard free energy change of redox reaction of metal M and zinc oxide, ΔHx(M) is the heat of dissolution of zinc as a constituent metal element of zinc oxide to metal M, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature) as a parameter showing the wettability with zinc oxide is 6 or less and in which its resistivity is smaller than the resistivity of zinc oxide added with the n-type dopant, and wherein concentration of metal M in relation to the total atomicity of zinc and the n-type dopant and metal M, which are all metal atoms configuring the zinc oxide transparent electric conductor, is 0.05 to 2.0 at %.
A method of producing a sputtering target for forming a zinc oxide transparent electric conductor having zinc oxide (ZnO) as its principal component, including the steps of respectively weighing raw material powders of zinc oxide powder, oxide powder of an element to become an n-type dopant to zinc oxide, and powder of metal M in which P(P=(ΔG0+ΔHx(M))/RT, wherein ΔG0 is the standard free energy change of redox reaction of metal M and zinc oxide, ΔHx(M) is the heat of dissolution of zinc as a constituent metal element of zinc oxide to metal M, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature) as a parameter showing the wettability with zinc oxide is 6 or less and in which its resistivity is smaller than the resistivity of zinc oxide added with the n-type dopant so that concentration of metal M in relation to the total atomicity of zinc and the n-type dopant and metal M, which are all metal atoms configuring the zinc oxide transparent electric conductor, becomes 0.05 to 2.0 at %, mixing the powders, and performing pressure sintering thereto in order to form a solid target.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.