Abstract
Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were deposited via aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) from zinc acetylacetonate and aluminium chloride at 450 °C. The precursor solutions consisted of methanol in a mixture with one other secondary solvent, including toluene, tetrahydrofuran, n-hexane, cyclohexane, and ethyl acetate. The crystal structures, elemental compositions and surface morphologies of the resulting AZO films were determined, as well as the optoelectronic properties. It was found that the more polar solvents enhanced growth in the (002) plane of the wurtzite crystal structure, and that solutions with low viscosities resulted in superior grain growth. The film deposited from a solution consisting of methanol and ethyl acetate displayed the lowest visible transmittance, due to carbon contamination. However, it also exhibited 60% lower resistivity, in comparison to the film deposited using methanol only. This suggests that optoelectronic properties can be tuned for specific photovoltaic devices.
Highlights
Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) is a technique used to deposit thin lm coatings.[1]
Aluminium chloride [AlCl3] was added, so that there was 10 mol% aluminium in solution, relative to the amount of zinc. This was done because previous work has shown that 10 mol% Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) deposited via AACVD had superior electrical conductivities, compared to other dopant concentrations.[17]
Many of the solvents used for this study had a relatively low polarity (Table 1), which led to partial immiscibility of some of the solvents with MeOH
Summary
Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) is a technique used to deposit thin lm coatings.[1]. AACVD has the bene t of opening up a wide range of safe, easy to handle, nonvolatile precursors, that would otherwise not be suitable for traditional deposition techniques.[2] Another advantage of AACVD is that doping is achievable, since the stoichiometric ratio of dopant precursors to lm precursors in solution can be closely related to the stoichiometric ratio in the resultant lm.[3] By comparison, doping lms using APCVD requires precise control over gas ow rates, which can be unreliable, and difficult to reproduce. TCOs are a class of semiconductor material, which combine optical transparency with electrical conductivity This grants them a wide range of applications in optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells, touch screens, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs).[7] Currently, the most common industrial TCO materials are uorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and tin-doped indium oxide (ITO). The effect of varying the solvent used to make up the precursor solution was investigated
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
