LAPSE:2018.1128
Published Article
LAPSE:2018.1128
Controlled Al3+ Incorporation in the ZnO Lattice at 188 °C by Soft Reactive Co-Sputtering for Transparent Conductive Oxides
Salvatore Sanzaro, Antonino La Magna, Emanuele Smecca, Giovanni Mannino, Giovanna Pellegrino, Enza Fazio, Fortunato Neri, Alessandra Alberti
November 28, 2018
Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers, to be implemented in photo-anodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), were prepared by co-deposition of ZnO and Al using pulsed-direct current (DC)-magnetron reactive sputtering processes. The films were deposited at low deposition temperatures (RT-188 °C) and at fixed working pressure (1.4 Pa) using soft power loading conditions to avoid intrinsic extra-heating. To compensate the layer stoichiometry, O₂ was selectively injected close to the sample in a small percentage (Ar:O₂ = 69 sccm:2 sccm). We expressly applied the deposition temperature as a controlling parameter to tune the incorporation of the Al3+ species in the targeted position inside the ZnO lattice. With this method, Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide films (ZnO:Al) were grown following the typical wurtzite structure, as demonstrated by X-ray Diffraction analyses. A combination of micro-Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) analyses has shown that the incorporated host-atoms are Al3+ species in Zn2+ substitutional position; their amount increases following a direct monotonic trend with the deposition temperature. Correspondently, the c-axis strain into the layer decreases due to the progressive ordering of the lattice structure and reducing clustering phenomena. The maximum average Al content inside the film was ~2%, as measured by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, with a uniform distribution of the dopant species along the layer thickness traced by depth-profile XPS analyses. The optimised ZnO:Al layer, deposited at a rate of ~7 nm/min, exhibits high transmittance in the visible range (~85%) and low resistivity values (~13 mΩ × cm). The material therefore fulfils all the requirements to be candidate as TCO for low-cost DSCs on flexible substrates for large area technologies.
Keywords
Al doped ZnO (AZO), co-sputtering, doping, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), low temperature, transparent conductive oxide (TCO)
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Suggested Citation
Sanzaro S, La Magna A, Smecca E, Mannino G, Pellegrino G, Fazio E, Neri F, Alberti A. Controlled Al3+ Incorporation in the ZnO Lattice at 188 °C by Soft Reactive Co-Sputtering for Transparent Conductive Oxides. (2018). LAPSE:2018.1128
Author Affiliations
Sanzaro S: Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Messina, V. le F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, Messina 98166, Italy; National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona ind
La Magna A: National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona industriale Strada VIII n°5, Catania 95121, Italy
Smecca E: National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona industriale Strada VIII n°5, Catania 95121, Italy
Mannino G: National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona industriale Strada VIII n°5, Catania 95121, Italy
Pellegrino G: National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona industriale Strada VIII n°5, Catania 95121, Italy
Fazio E: Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Messina, V. le F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, Messina 98166, Italy
Neri F: Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Messina, V. le F. Stagno d’Alcontres 31, Messina 98166, Italy
Alberti A: National Research Council-Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM), Zona industriale Strada VIII n°5, Catania 95121, Italy
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Journal Name
Energies
Volume
9
Issue
6
Article Number
E433
Year
2016
Publication Date
2016-06-03
Published Version
ISSN
1996-1073
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PII: en9060433, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2018.1128
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doi:10.3390/en9060433
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Nov 28, 2018
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