Thin film zinc oxide deposited by CVD and PVD

Abstract

Zinc oxide is known as a mineral since 1810, but it came to scientific interest after its optoelectronic properties found to be tuneable by p-type doping. Since the late 1980’s the number of publications increased exponentially. All thin film deposition technologies, including sol-gel and spray pyrolysis, are able to produce ZnO films. However, for outstanding properties and specific doping, only chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition have shown so far satisfying results in terms of high conductivity and high transparency. In this paper the different possibilities for doping will be discussed, some important applications of doped ZnO thin films will be presented. The deposition technologies used for industrial applications are shown in this paper. Especially sputtering of aluminium doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:Al or AZO) and LPCVD of boron doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:B or BZO) are used for the commercial production of transparent conductive oxide films on glass used for thin film photovoltaic cells. For this special application the typical process development for large area deposition is presented, with the important trade-off between optical properties (transparency and ability for light scattering) and electrical properties (conductivity). Also, the long term stability of doped ZnO films is important for applications, humidity in the ambient is often the reason for degradation of the films. The differences between the mentioned materials are presented.