Nitrogen grain-boundary passivation of In-doped ZnO transparent conducting oxide

Abstract

PUBLISHED We have investigated the properties and conduction limitations of spray pyrolysis grown, low-cost transparent conducting oxide ZnO thin films doped with indium. We analyze the optical, electrical, and crystallographic properties as functions of In content with a specific focus on postgrowth heat treatment of these thin films at 320?C in an inert, nitrogen atmosphere, which improves the films electrical properties considerably. The effect was found to be dominated by nitrogen-induced grain-boundary passivation, identified by a combined study using in situ resistance measurement upon annealing, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and x-ray diffraction studies. We also highlight the chemical mechanism of morphologic and crystallographic changes found in films with high indium content. By optimizing growth conditions according to these findings, ZnO:In with a resistivity as low as 2?10?3?cm, high optical quality (T?90%), and sheet resistance of 32?/? has been obtained without any need for postgrowth treatments.

Document type: Part of book or chapter of book

Original document

The different versions of the original document can be found in:

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47313-0_8

• http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/2262/91736/1/Ali2018-PhysRevMaterials.2.043402.pdf under the license cc-by-nc-sa

DOIS: 10.1007/978-3-319-47313-0_8 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.043402