Mg-doped ZnO thin films deposited by the atomic layer chemical vapor deposition for the buffer layer of CIGS solar cell

Abstract

• Mg-doped ZnO film as CIGS buffer was prepared by ALD process. • The grain size of ZnO-like hexagonal phase decreased with Mg content. • The transmittance and crystallinity increased but the band gap decreased with temperature. Mg-doped ZnO [(Zn, Mg)O] thin films were prepared by atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALCVD) process with different Mg content, using diethyl zinc, biscyclopentadienyl magnesium, and water as the metal and oxygen sources, respectively. The ratio of Mg to Zn was varied by changing the pulse ratio of MgCp 2 to DEZn precursor to study its effect on the properties of (Zn, Mg)O thin films. From the experimental results, it was shown that the grain size of the ZnO-like hexagonal phase (Zn, Mg)O decreased as the Mg content increased. But the transmittance and optical band gap of (Zn, Mg)O films increased with the increase of the Mg content. In addition, the effect of the substrate temperature on the properties of (Zn, Mg)O films was also investigated. The deposition rate, transmittance, and crystallinity of (Zn, Mg)O films increased as the substrate temperature increased. But its band gap decreased slightly with the increase of substrate temperature.