Structural and Optical Properties of ZnO Film Precursors for Multilayered Transparent Solar Cell Electrodes

Abstract

This work examines the modification of the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films by control of deposition and post-treatment parameters. ZnO thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering from a ceramic target locally made at SHESTCO in Abuja, Nigeria. X-ray diffraction measurements characterized the different films prior to thermal annealing as extremely amorphous with average UV-VIS transmittance spectra between 80 and 90%. Annealing at different temperatures and time spans influenced the formation of Wurtzite (002) oriented ZnO crystallites. Contrary to the crystallinity of the films, which was strongly influenced by the deposition power, the optical transmission of the films was only slightly influenced by the deposition power and it was less sensitive to the crystallinity of ZnO thin films.