The Effect of Temperature on the Growth of High Quality Al-Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films by RF Magnetron Sputtering
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Al-doped zinc oxide is a popular transparent conducting oxide material commonly used in thin film solar cells as front contact or buffer layer. In this work, we attempt to investigate and assess the impact and significance of deposition temperature on the material properties of AZO by RF sputtering technique. The structural, optical and electrical behaviors of the films were studied by varying the substrate temperature from room temperature to 500oC. Results show that the morphology, crystallinity and electrical indices all improve with increasing temperature. The optical characteristics of the films include high transmittance (>90%) and bandgap energy in the range of 3.5 – 3.8 eV. All in all, these films are found suitable to be used as buffer layer in CdTe and CIGS thin film solar cells, while at higher film thicknesses, they can equally be used as front contact TCO layer in these cells.
Source: EU PVSEC
Language: English
Topic: ZnO doping and properties
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2216398786