Synthesis and crystallization of praseodymium-doped InZnO nanoparticle via co-precipitation for ceramic targets

Indium zinc oxide (IZO) ceramic targets have been extensively studied due to the advantage of high film mobility and controllable resistivity. As the base materials used for IZO ceramic targets, it is crucial to synthesize IZO composite nanoparticles by an effective technique. Herein, praseodymium (Pr)-doped IZO composite nanoparticles are fabricated by co-precipitation method. The influencing factors for the synthesis of the composite nanoparticles are analyzed, and the nanoparticles show the best properties of most uniform particle shape, size, and elemental distribution under the preparation conditions of ammonia or sodium hydroxide as an alkaline precipitant, pH of 7, and sintering temperature of 800°C. The phase composition, micro-morphology, compositional homogeneity, and chemical bonding and functional group changes of precursors and sintered particles are analyzed. Meanwhile, combined with the thermogravimetric - differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) analysis of the decomposition process of the hydroxide precursor during heating, the crystallization activation energy for the transformation of the precursor from the amorphous to the crystalline state was calculated by the Kissinger and Ozawa method. Based on the concept of crystallization fraction, the crystallization mechanism of the mixed particles of precursors is explored. In addition, ceramic targets prepared from the IZO nanoparticles by this method exhibit excellent uniform elemental distribution and fine grain (<4 µm), high density (>99%), and low resistivity (<4 mΩ·cm). This work provides an efficient strategy for the preparation of IZO composite nanoparticles for applications in advanced photoelectric ceramic targets.