Roughness-based monitoring of transparency and conductivity in boron-doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Journal Article · Sat Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2012.09.022· OSTI ID:22215672

Gaikwad, Rajendra S. ^[1]; Bhande, Sambhaji S. ^[2]; Pawar, Bhagwat N. ^[3]; Gaikwad, Sanjay L. ^[2]; Han, Sung-Hwan ^[4]; Joo, Oh-Shim ^[1]

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1. Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 130-650 (Korea, Republic of)
2. Centre for Nanomaterials and Energy Devices, School of Physical Sciences, Swami Ramand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded (India)
3. Department of Physics, Yashwantrao Mohite College, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune 411038, Maharashtra (India)
4. Inorganic Nanomaterials Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791 (Korea, Republic of)

Graphical abstract: Display Omitted Highlights: ► We report surface roughness dependent transparency and conductivity in ZnO films. ► The surface roughness with respected to boron doping concentrations is studied. ► Boron doped and pristine Zinc oxide thin films have showed ≥95% transmittance. ► Increased carrier concentration of 9.21 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −3} revealed from Hall measurement. -- Abstract: Sprayed polycrystalline ZnO and boron-doped ZnO thin films composed of spherical grains of 25–32 nm in diameters are used in roughness measurement and further correlated with the transparency and the conductivity characteristics. The surface roughness is increased up to Zn{sub 0.98}B{sub 0.02}O and then declined at higher boron concentrations. The sprayed ZnO films revealed ≥95% transmittance in the visible wavelength range, 1.956 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm electrical resistivity, 46 cm{sup 2}/V s Hall mobility and 9.21 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −3} charge carrier concentration. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study has confirmed 0.15 eV binding energy change for Zn 2p{sub 3/2} when 2 at% boron content is mixed without altering electro-optical properties substantially. Finally, using soft modeling importance of these textured ZnO over non-textured films for enhancing the solar cells performance is explored.

• OSTI ID: 22215672
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 47; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BORON
DOPED MATERIALS
POLYCRYSTALS
PYROLYSIS
ROUGHNESS
SIMULATION
SOLAR CELLS
SURFACES
SYNTHESIS
THIN FILMS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ZINC OXIDES