Transparent and conductive Al‐doped ZnO films for solar cells applications

Abstract

General rules governing the quality of aluminium-doped zinc oxide films (Al:ZnO, AZO) grown by radio frequency sputtering were searched. A vast set of experimental data on the electrical, optical, structural, and morphological properties of AZO films prepared at different deposition conditions was analyzed. AZO films with a high Haacke's figure of merit F TC ¼ 10 m V À1 were fabricated at temperatures lower than 250 8C starting from a target of ZnO mixed with 2 wt% Al 2 O 3 . It was demonstrated that AZO films with similar good optical and electrical properties can be obtained in different ways by opportunely combining the deposition parameters, proving that AZO film characteristics depend on the energy efficiency of the deposition process, which can be ensured at different deposition conditions. It was found that the temperature and the magnetron strength are essential for the growing process to guarantee film optimal performances, while the other deposition parameters can be opportunely adjusted for tuning the film characteristics. A correlation between electrical, structural and microstructural characteristics of the films was established.

Electronic structure of conducting Al-doped ZnO films as a function of Al doping concentration

“…The ALD growth technique can provide good quality film with well-controlled thickness and composition due to its intrinsically self-limiting growth mechanism [7,12]. Given these advantages, Al-doped ZnO films deposited by ALD have been studied in terms of their growth conditions, doping mechanism and their electrical and optical properties [8,9] n simple changes of electrical properties depending on the Al contents and has explained the electrical conducting properties of AZO films by their physical structure and optical properties [3,9,10]. Yet in addition to the physical and optical changes of AZO films, the origins of conducting properties are strongly correlated to the electronic structure of the film, i.e., the band gap, conduction band, and band alignments.…”

Double-layer effect on electrothermal properties of transparent heaters

“…Alternatives have been investigated to replace ITO. FTO and AZO films possesses electrical , optical properties , which are key factors that influence the performance of electrothermal films.…”

Advantage of dual-confined plasmas over conventional and facing-target plasmas for improving transparent-conductive properties in Al doped ZnO thin films

“…Among these dopants, Al is extensively doped in ZnO films, for variety of advanced applications i.e. organic light-emitting devices [1], gas sensing [12], solar cell [13,14], NIR transformative applications [15], apart the conventional TCO applications [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31].…”