Morphological differences in transparent conductive indium-doped zinc oxide thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Jongthammanurak, Samerkhae; Cheawkul, Tinnaphob; Witana, Maetapa

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2014.09.030

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, the gas sensing performance of ZnO strongly depends on its morphology. To date, In-doped ZnO has been exploited in several forms such as thin films, 14 nanowires, 15 and nanobelts. 16 However, there exist many limitations in the sensitivity of the present morphologies, due to the lack of pores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly Sensitive and Selective Ethanol Sensor Fabricated with In-Doped 3DOM ZnO

Wang

Tian

Han

et al. 2016

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ZnO is an important n-type semiconductor sensing material. Currently, much attention has been attracted to finding an effective method to prepare ZnO nanomaterials with high sensing sensitivity and excellent selectivity. A three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) ZnO nanostructure with a large surface area is beneficial to gas and electron transfer, which can enhance the gas sensitivity of ZnO. Indium (In) doping is an effective way to improve the sensing properties of ZnO. In this paper, In-doped 3DOM ZnO with enhanced sensitivity and selectivity has been synthesized by using a colloidal crystal templating method. The 3DOM ZnO with 5 at. % of In-doping exhibits the highest sensitivity (∼88) to 100 ppm ethanol at 250 °C, which is approximately 3 times higher than that of pure 3DOM ZnO. The huge improvement to the sensitivity to ethanol was attributed to the increase in the surface area and the electron carrier concentration. The doping by In introduces more electrons into the matrix, which is helpful for increasing the amount of adsorbed oxygen, leading to high sensitivity. The In-doped 3DOM ZnO is a promising material for a new type of ethanol sensor.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly Sensitive and Selective Ethanol Sensor Fabricated with In-Doped 3DOM ZnO

Wang

Tian

Han

et al. 2016

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

182

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The occurring deposition mode is mainly driven by the set process parameters; however, for high-quality films with low resistivity, usually, a deposition from the vapor phase is preferred as this results in dense thin films with good adhesion to the substrate. In spray pyrolysis, ZnO:In (IZO) is a common TCO − due to its good electrical conductivity and high optical transparency while requiring only a low In amount for doping (only 1–6 atom % is required for good electrical properties − ). IZO has been applied in transparent conductive electrodes or as an interlayer in III–V/silicon tandem solar cells. , Besides the high material quality of the deposited IZO, many applications also require good electrical contact formation with the substrate (e.g., IZO as an interlayer in III–V/silicon tandem solar cells) but TCOs deposited via spray pyrolysis have shown higher contact resistivities compared to sputtered TCOs .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spray Pyrolysis of ZnO:In: Characterization of Growth Mechanism and Interface Analysis on p-Type GaAs and n-Type Si Semiconductor Materials

Heitmann

Westraadt

O’Connell

et al. 2022

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sprayed transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are an interesting alternative to sputtered TCOs for many applications due to the possible high throughput and a simple, atmospheric pressure process of spray deposition. In this work, the growth mechanism of sprayed ZnO:In was analyzed by transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD) analysis of the thin film’s crystal orientation, which shows a preferred orientation of the growing grains and thus proves that the deposition occurs from the gas phase. It was observed that with increasing thickness of the layer, the average grain size increases and the measured resistivity significantly reduces to ≈5–6 × 10–3 Ω cm for layers of >500 nm thickness. Since many applications also require good electrical contact formation, the contact resistivity and the interface between sprayed IZO and n-type poly-Si and p-type GaAs, two materials that are commonly used in III–V/silicon tandem solar cells, were investigated by electrical measurements and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The interlayers observed in TEM were investigated by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) line scans. The results suggest that oxidic interlayers at the substrate/IZO interface are responsible for the observed higher contact resistivity compared to the contact resistivity of sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) references. The results presented in this work lead to a better understanding of the deposition process occurring in spray pyrolysis and thus allow a more targeted optimization of process parameters depending on the future requirements of the application.

show abstract

“…These materials substitute on the Zn site generating a shallow donor level, thereby increasing the carrier concentration [10,11]. In this work, we focus on indium doping, which has been found to be an effective means to improve electrical properties of ZnO [4,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen grain-boundary passivation of In-doped ZnO transparent conducting oxide

Ali

Butt

Coughlan

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have investigated the properties and conduction limitations of spray pyrolysis grown, low-cost transparent conducting oxide ZnO thin films doped with indium. We analyze the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties as functions of In content with a specific focus on postgrowth heat treatment of these thin films at 320 • C in an inert, nitrogen atmosphere, which improves the films electrical properties considerably. The effect was found to be dominated by nitrogen-induced grain-boundary passivation, identified by a combined study using in situ resistance measurement upon annealing, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and x-ray diffraction studies. We also highlight the chemical mechanism of morphologic and crystallographic changes found in films with high indium content. By optimizing growth conditions according to these findings, ZnO:In with a resistivity as low as 2 × 10 −3 cm, high optical quality (T ≈ 90%), and sheet resistance of 32 / has been obtained without any need for postgrowth treatments.

show abstract

Morphological differences in transparent conductive indium-doped zinc oxide thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Cited by 13 publications

References 29 publications

Highly Sensitive and Selective Ethanol Sensor Fabricated with In-Doped 3DOM ZnO

Highly Sensitive and Selective Ethanol Sensor Fabricated with In-Doped 3DOM ZnO

Spray Pyrolysis of ZnO:In: Characterization of Growth Mechanism and Interface Analysis on p-Type GaAs and n-Type Si Semiconductor Materials

Nitrogen grain-boundary passivation of In-doped ZnO transparent conducting oxide

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About