Preparation of transparent conducting ZnO:Al films on glass substrates by ultrasonic spray technique

Abstract

Transparent conductive Al doped ZnO thin films were deposited by ultrasonic spray technique. Conditions of preparation have been optimized to get good quality. A set of aluminum (Al) doped ZnO (between 0 and 5 wt%) thin films were grown on glass substrate at 350 °C. Nanocrystalline films with a hexagonal wurtzite structure show a strong (002) preferred orientation. The maximum value of grain size G = 32.05 nm is attained of Al doped ZnO film with 3 wt%. All the films have low absorbance in the visible region, thus the films are transparent in the visible region; the band gap energy increased from 3.10 to 3.26 eV when Al concentration increased from 0 to 3 wt%. The electrical conductivity of the films increased from 7.5 to 15.2 (Ω·cm)−1. So the best results are achieved in Al doped ZnO film with 3 wt%.