Highly Oriented ZnO:Al Thin Films as an Alternative Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) for Windows Layer of Solar Cells

Abstract

Aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) thin films were deposited on corning glass substrates using DC magnetron sputtering at various growth temperatures (27°C-400°C). X-rays diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) analysis showed the crystal structure of ZnO:Al thin films is wurtzite with c-axis orientation. By enhancing the growth temperature, the crystal size and the crystal stress are increase, while the resistivity of films decreases. Crystal size increase from 35 nm to 52 nm, the stress increase from -7.689 GPa to -5.126 GPa, while the resistivity decreases from 6.29 x 104 Ωcm to 4.05 x 103 Ωcm. Generally, the quality of crystal enhanced as the raising of growth temperature.