Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are increasingly critical components in photovoltaic cells, low‐e windows, flat panel displays, electrochromic devices, and flexible electronics. The conventional TCOs, such as Sn‐doped In2O3, are crystalline single phase materials. Here, we report on In‐Zn‐O (IZO), a compositionally tunable amorphous TCO with some significantly improved properties. Compositionally graded thin film samples were deposited by co‐sputtering from separate In2O3 and ZnO targets onto glass substrates at 100 °C. For the metals composition range of 55–84 cation% indium, the as‐deposited IZO thin films are amorphous, smooth (RRMS < 0.4 nm), conductive (σ ∼ 3000 Ω−1 · cm−1), and transparent in the visible (TVis > 90%). Furthermore, the amorphous IZO thin films demonstrate remarkable functional and structural stability with respect to heating up to 600 °C in either air or argon. Hence, though not completely understood at present, these amorphous materials constitute a new class of fundamentally interesting and technologically important high performance transparent conductors.

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We report on the effects of titanium doping (0–7at.%) on the optical and electrical properties of In2O3 using combinatorial deposition and analysis techniques. Maximum mobilities are observed at Ti concentrations of 1.5–2.5at.% and are &gt;80cm2∕Vs in sputtered films. The carrier concentration increased with titanium content to a high of 8.0×1020cm−3. Data show that one carrier is generated per added Ti between 1 and 3at.%. Conductivities up to 6260Ω−1cm−1 were observed. These remained very high &gt;5000Ω−1cm−1 across a wide compositional range. The optical transparency is high (&gt;85%) in a wide spectral range from 400nm to at least 1750nm. The work function of titanium-doped indium oxide varies substantially over the studied compositional range.

We study the use of cadmium telluride (CdTe) nanocrystal colloids as a solution-processable "ink" for large-grain CdTe absorber layers in solar cells. The resulting grain structure and solar cell performance depend on the initial nanocrystal size, shape, and crystal structure. We find that inks of predominantly wurtzite tetrapod-shaped nanocrystals with arms ∼5.6 nm in diameter exhibit better device performance compared to inks composed of smaller tetrapods, irregular faceted nanocrystals, or spherical zincblende nanocrystals despite the fact that the final sintered film has a zincblende crystal structure. Five different working device architectures were investigated. The indium tin oxide (ITO)/CdTe/zinc oxide structure leads to our best performing device architecture (with efficiency >11%) compared to others including two structures with a cadmium sulfide (CdS) n-type layer typically used in high efficiency sublimation-grown CdTe solar cells. Moreover, devices without CdS have improved response at short wavelengths.

rf magnetron sputtering, an established and scalable large area deposition process, is used to deposit Nb:TiO2 and Ta:TiO2 films onto (100) SrTiO3 substrates at temperatures TS ranging from room temperature to 400°C. Optical, electrical, and structural properties similar to those reported for pulsed laser deposition grown films were obtained. In particular, the most conducting Ti0.85Nb0.15O2 films, grown at TS≈375°C, are epitaxially oriented anatase films with conductivity of 3000Scm−1, carrier concentration of 2.4×1021cm−3, Hall mobility of 7.6cm2V−1s−1, and optical transparency T&gt;80% from 400to900nm. The conductivity is strongly correlated with the intensity of the anatase (004) x-ray diffraction peak.