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Merits and Demerits of Transparent Conducting Magnetron Sputtered ZnO:Al, ITO and SnO2:F Thin Films for Solar Cell Applications

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Abstract

Transparent conducting ZnO:Al and indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were deposited by magnetron sputtering under reactive environment. Both the transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films were exposed intentionally in hydrogen environment at 350 °C calcinations temperature to study the post treated TCO film’s opto-electronic, structural as well as surface morphological properties. Electrical resistivity of both ZnO:Al, ITO and SnO2:F films are comparable (order of 10−4 Ω-cm), lowest sheet resistance are 8.5, 3.7 and 4.6 Ω/sq respectively and slightly improved after hydrogen exposure at 350 °C. Optical transmittance and internal texture of hydrogen environment exposed ZnO films remains invariant, but in case of ITO, SnO2:F films optical transmittance deteriorated drastically. Hexagonal wurtzite structure with (002) c-axis orientation is observed for pre- and post-hydrogen exposed ZnO films whereas internal texture as well as crystallographic orientation of ITO and SnO2:F films have significantly changed. Surface grains of ITO films have been significantly enhanced, but no such variations are observed in ZnO surface morphology. ZnO:Al and ITO films show unique plasmonic properties in near infrared transmittance due to free carrier generation in conduction band. Based on surface features/morphology, haze factor and internal texture light scattering mechanism is modeled.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India [DST/TM/SERI/2K10/67(G)] for financial support for pursuing the R&D activity and also acknowledge IIEST, Shibpur for facilitating high temperature atomic hydrogen treatment.

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  1. Haldia Institute of Technology, Haldia, Purba Medinipur, 721 657, West Bengal, India

    Rajesh Das & Himadri Sekhar Das

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  1. Rajesh Das
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  2. Himadri Sekhar Das
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Correspondence to Rajesh Das.

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Das, R., Das, H.S. Merits and Demerits of Transparent Conducting Magnetron Sputtered ZnO:Al, ITO and SnO2:F Thin Films for Solar Cell Applications. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. D 98, 85–90 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40033-016-0112-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40033-016-0112-1

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