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Comparative studies on the properties of magnetron sputtered transparent conductive oxide thin films for the application in solar cell

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Abstract

Transparent conductive ZnO:Al and ZnO:Ga ultrathin films have been developed on glass substrate at room temperature by non-reactive RF magnetron sputtering using sintered ceramic disc of ZnO:Al target (ZnO 98%, Al 2%), and ZnO:Ga target (ZnO 97%, Ga 3%). The thin films (90–250 nm) of ZnO:Al and ZnO:Ga show low resistivity of 8.6 × 10−5 and 4.5 × 10− 4 Ω cm, respectively. The ZnO:Al thin film exhibits highest transparency of 92%, haze factor of 54% in the visible region and electrical mobility of 12 cm2/V s. Similar kinds of results (highest electrical mobility is 10 cm2/V s, haze factor varies from 28 to 44%) are observed for ZnO:Ga thin films. The moderate improvement on thickness-dependent electrical mobility for very thin ZnO:Ga and ZnO:Al films are due to improved crystallinity, increased crystallite sizes but negative effect comes from grain boundary scattering and higher surface roughness. X-ray diffraction spectra reveal polycrystalline nature of ZnO:Ga and ZnO:Al thin films with grain size 22 and 19 nm, respectively. Variation of thickness and composition-dependent structural, morphological and optical haze properties of Al- and Ga-doped ZnO thin films have been compared with that of conventional ITO and SnO2:F thin films.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India [DST/TM/ SERI/2K10/67(G)] for financial support for pursuing the R&D activity. S. Biring acknowledges financial supports from Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 105-2218-E-131-003, 106-2221-E-131-027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Sciences, Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, West Bengal, 721657, India

    Rajesh Das & Himadri Sekhar Das

  2. Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal, India

    Prasanta Kumar Nandi

  3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Organic Electronics Research Center, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 24301, Taiwan

    Sajal Biring

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Das, R., Das, H.S., Nandi, P.K. et al. Comparative studies on the properties of magnetron sputtered transparent conductive oxide thin films for the application in solar cell. Appl. Phys. A 124, 631 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2043-1

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