Tailoring of the Structural and Optoelectronic Properties of Zinc-Tin-Oxide Thin Films via Oxygenation Process for Solar Cell Application

Abstract

In this study, the impact of compositional variation of highly resistivity transparent (HRT) metal oxide ZTO deposited by co-sputtered technique has been studied. The atomic composition has been tailored by the change of RF power and subsequent thermal oxygenation in mixed nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere. A phase transition from ZnSnO3 to ZnSnO4 was observed in the X-ray diffraction spectra, indicating the possible oxygen incorporation into the films during the thermal annealing process. Uniform microstructures with compact interconnected grains of around 6-7 nm were found in SEM images while no significant changes been observed upon oxygenation. Besides, the significant alteration of electronic properties was noticed as an effect of compositional variation via oxygenation. All the films showed above 85% of optical transmittance in the visible light spectrum. The optimum optoelectronic properties for RF power has been determined as of 50W (ZnO) and 10W (SnO2) via thermal oxygenation at 400 o C where the ratio O/(Zn+Sn) become around 1.6. The significant effect of oxygenation has been realized via primarily fabricated solar cells where the cell with ZnSnO4 HRT shows higher efficiency than the ZnSnO3.

Effect of Cd2+Molar Concentration in CdxZn(1−x)S Thin Film by Chemical Bath Deposition Technique Using Alternative Sulfur Precursor

“…The absorption coefficient (α) of Cd x Zn (1−x) S can be associated with the photon energy and the optical bandgap (Eg) of as-grown films are analysed using the Tauc's plot from Beer-Lambert law: 41,42 hv A hv Eg…”

Effect of Cu, Co, and Pb doping on physical properties of ZnO Zinc Blende and Hexagonal mixed phases thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

“…the corresponding micro-strain recorded for deposited films are recorded to be 0.0028, 0.003, −0.00036 and-0.0013 for pure, Cu, co and Pb doped films, respectively. The dislocation density (d) represents the number of atoms that displaced from their lattice positions in a form of an interstitial atom which creates a vacancy in return [42]. It can be estimated using the following equation [41];…”

Fully Photon Controlled Synaptic Memristor for Neuro‐Inspired Computing

“…ZnO and Zn 2 SnO 4 (ZSO) are two prominently studied metal oxide semiconductors with wide optical bandgap of 3.3 and 3.88 eV, respectively, and have great potential for visible light sensors because of their fascinating optical properties and strong absorption in ultraviolet (UV) region. [ 19–21 ]…”

“…ZnO and Zn 2 SnO 4 (ZSO) are two prominently studied metal oxide semiconductors with wide optical bandgap of 3.3 and 3.88 eV, respectively, and have great potential for visible light sensors because of their fascinating optical properties and strong absorption in ultraviolet (UV) region. [19][20][21] The emerging optoelectronic memristive synapses having the advantages of both optics and electronics exhibit a great potential in neuro-inspired computing, which is a new generation of artificial intelligence. Herein, a light stimulated synaptic memristor (LSSM) based on ZnO/Zn 2 SnO 4 heterostructure is prepared with the characteristics of reversibly tunable conductance states by varying the wavelength of the incident light.…”