Structural, optical, morphological and electrical properties of undoped and Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared using sol-gel dip coating process

In this work, sol-gel dip-coating technique was used to elaborate ZnO pure and ZnO/Al films. The impact of Al-doped concentration on the structural, optical, surface morphological and electrical properties of the elaborated samples was investigated. It was found that better electrical and optical performances have been obtained for an Al concentration equal to 5%, where the ZnO thin films exhibit a resistivity value equal to 1.64104 Ω·cm. Moreover, highest transparency has been recorded for the same Al concentration value. The obtained results from this investigation make the developed thin film structure a potential candidate for high optoelectronic performance applications.     

Structural and optical properties of ZnO films prepared by ion beam sputtering

Based on the ion beam sputtering deposition technology,ZnO thin films are deposited on the glass substrate.The four-factor and three-level L 9(34)orthogonal experiment is used to obtain the best technological parameters of the deposited ZnO thin films,which are the discharge voltage of 3.5 kV,the oxygen current capacity of 8 sccm,the coil current of 8 A and the distance between target and substrate of 140 mm.The purity of the deposited ZnO thin film is 85.77%,and it has good crystallization in orientation.The experimental results show that research and development of the ion beam sputtering source are advanced,and the ion beam sputtering deposition technology can be used to deposit the orientation preferred thin films with good performance.     

Investigation the structural, optical and electrical properties of Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis techniqueYacine Aoun 1, Boubaker Benhaoua 2,Said Benramache 3,*

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique decomposition of zinc acetate dihydrate in an ethanol solution with 30 mL of deposition rate, the ZnO thin films were deposited at two different temperatures: 300 and 350 ℃. The substrates were heated using the solar cells method. The substrate was R217102 glass, whose size was 30 × 17.5 × 1 mm³. The films exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a strong (002) preferred orientation. The higher value of crystallite size is attained for sprayed films at 350 ℃, which is probably due to an improvement of the crystallinity of the films at this point. The average trans mittance of obtain films is about 90%-95%, as measured by a UV-vis analyzer. The band gap energy varies from 3.265 to 3.294 eV for the deposited ZnO thin film at 300 and 350 ℃, respectively. The electrical resistivity measured of our films are in the order 0.36 Ω·cm.     

Influence of substrate temperature on the performance of zinc oxide thin film transistor

Top-contact thin film transistors（TFTs） using radio frequency（RP） magnetron sputtering zinc oxide （ZnO） and silicon dioxide（SiO₂） films as the active channel layer and gate insulator layer,respectively,were fabricated.The performances of ZnO TFTs with different ZnO film deposition temperatures（room temperature, 100℃and 200℃） were investigated.Compared with the transistor with room-temperature deposited ZnO films, the mobility of the device fabricated at 200℃is improved by 94%and the threshold voltage shift is reduced from 18 to 3 V（after 1 h positive gate voltage stress）.Experimental results indicate that substrate temperature plays an important role in enhancing the field effect mobility,sharping the subthreshold swing and improving the bias stability of the devices.Atomic force microscopy was used to investigate the ZnO film properties.The reasons for the device performance improvement are discussed.     

Effect of Fe-doping on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Fe-doped ZnO thin films have been prepared by spray pyrolysis on glass substrates and the influence of Fe-doping concentration on the structural and optical properties of the films has been studied.The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that Fe doping has a significant effect on crystalline quality,grain size and strain in the thin films.The best crystalline structure is obtained for 3 at%Fe doping as observed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and XRD.However,lower or higher Fe-doping degrades the crystalline quality in turn.Moreover,UV spectroscopy demonstrates the influence of Fe-incorporation on visible range transmittance of ZnO where the best transmittance is obtained for 3 at%doping.The results have been illustrated simultaneously focusing previous results obtained from literature.     

The effect of the film thickness and doping content of SnO2:F thin films prepared by the ultrasonic spray method

This paper reports on the effects of film thickness and doping content on the optical and electrical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide. Tin(II) chloride dehydrate, ammonium fluoride dehydrate, ethanol and HCl were used as the starting materials, dopant source, solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The doped films were deposited on a glass substrate at different concentrations varying between 0 and 5 wt% using an ultrasonic spray technique. The SnO2 :F thin films were deposited at a 350 C pending time(5, 15, 60 and 90 s). The average transmission was about 80%, and the films were thus transparent in the visible region. The optical energy gap of the doped films with 2.5 wt% F was found to increase from 3.47 to 3.89 eV with increasing film thickness, and increased after doping at 5 wt%. The decrease in the Urbach energy of the SnO2:F thin films indicated a decrease in the defects. The increase in the electrical conductivity of the films reached maximum values of 278.9 and 281.9( cm)1for 2.5 and 5 wt% F, respectively, indicating that the films exhibited an n-type semiconducting nature. A systematic study on the influence of film thickness and doping content on the properties of SnO2:F thin films deposited by ultrasonic spray was reported.     

Formaldehyde OTFT Sensors Based on Airbrushed Different Ratios of P3HT/ZnO Films

The formaldehyde(HCHO) detecting at room temperature is of great significance.Different ratios of P3HT/ZnO composite films(3:1,1:1,and 1:3) were deposited on the organic thin film transistor(OTFT) by spray-deposition technology,and the electrical properties and HCHO-sensing properties of all the prepared OTFT devices were measured by Keithley 4200-SCS source measurement unit.The results show that the OTFT sensor based on the P3HT/ZnO films with the ratio of 1:1 exhibited the best output and transfer curves.Different changing tendency were observed with the increase of ZnO proportion when exposed to HCHO at room temperature,and the device with the ratio of 1:1 behaved a good response and recovery characteristics.     

Organic thin film transistors with PMMA modified insulator

A double insulation layer structure organic thin films transistor (OTFT) was investigated for improving the performance of the SiO2 gate insulator. A 50 nm PMMA layer was coated on top of the SiO2 gate insulator as the organic insulator layer. The results demonstrated that using inorganic/organic compound insulator as the gate dielectric layer is an effective method to fabricate OTFTs with improved electric characteristics and decreased leakage current. Electrical parameters of carrier mobility and on/off ratio were calculated. OTFT based on Si substrate with a field-effect mobility of 4.0 × 10-3cm2/Vs and on/off ratio of 104 was obtained.     

The calculation of band gap energy in zinc oxide films

We investigated the optical properties of undoped zinc oxide thin films as the n-type semiconductor; the thin films were deposited at different precursor molarities by ultrasonic spray and spray pyrolysis techniques. The thin films were deposited at different substrate temperatures ranging between 200 and 500 ℃. In this paper, we present a new approach to control the optical gap energy of ZnO thin films by concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures in a cost-effective way. The model proposed to calculate the band gap energy with the Urbach energy was investigated. The relation between the experimental data and theoretical calculation suggests that the band gap energies are predominantly estimated by the Urbach energies, film transparency, and concentration of the ZnO solution and substrate temperatures. The measurements by these proposal models are in qualitative agreements with the experimental data; the correlation coefficient values were varied in the range 0.96-0.99999, indicating high quality representation of data based on Equation (2), so that the relative errors of all calculation are smaller than 4%. Thus, one can suppose that the undoped ZnO thin films are chemically purer and have many fewer defects and less disorder owing to an almost complete chemical decomposition and contained higher optical band gap energy.     

The structure and magnetic properties of β-(Ga0.96Mn0.04)2O3 thin film

High quality epitaxial single phase (Ga0.96Mn0.04)2O3 and Ga2O3 thin films have been prepared on sapphire substrates by using laser molecular beam epitaxy (L-MBE).X-ray diffraction results indicate that the thin films have the monoclinic structure with a (-201) preferable orientation.Room temperature (RT) ferromagnetism appears and the magnetic properties of β-(Ga0.96Mn0.04)2O3 thin film are enhanced compared with our previous works.Experiments as well as the first principle method are used to explain the role of Mn dopant on the structure and magnetic properties of the thin films.The ferromagnetic properties are explained based on the concentration of transition element and the defects in the thin films.     

Optical and electrical properties of N-doped ZnO and fabrication of thin-film transistors

Using NH3 as nitrogen source gas, N-doped ZnO (ZnO:N) thin films in c-axis orientation were deposited on glass substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The ZnO:N thin films display significant increase of resistivity and decrease of photoluminescence intensity. As-grown ZnO:N material was used as active channel layer and Si3N4 was used as gate insulator to fabricate thin-film transistor. The fabricated devices on glasses demonstrate typical field effect transistor characteristics.     

氧化锌薄膜生长与ZnO基薄膜晶体管制备

通过金属有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)方法生长ZnO薄膜.XRD测试显示出(002)晶面的强衍射峰,表明生长的ZnO 薄膜是主度的c轴取向.基于 ZnO 薄膜基础,我们制备了 ZnO 基薄膜晶体管.     

氮气中退火对ZnO薄膜结构与光学性能的影响

采用直流磁控溅射法制备了ZnO薄膜,并将样品在氮气中进行了退火.对样品的表面形貌、结构性能、发光特性、透射光谱分别进行了检测.结果表明:退火后,样品的结晶质量提高,光致发光峰增强,在可见光范围内的平均透过率也有所增加.计算表明:退火后ZnO薄膜的禁带宽度略有减小.这可能是氮掺入ZnO薄膜后,N2p与O2p形成杂化轨道,二者能带部分重叠,从而使价带变宽、禁带变窄.     

Formaldehyde OTFT Sensors Based on Airbrushed Different Ratios of P3HT/ZnO Films

The formaldehyde (HCHO) detecting at room temperature is of great significance. Different ratios of P3HT/ZnO composite films (3:1, 1:1, and 1:3) were deposited on the organic thin film transistor (OTFT) by spray-deposition technology, and the electrical properties and HCHO-sensing properties of all the prepared OTFT devices were measured by Keithley 4200-SCS source measurement unit. The results show that the OTFT sensor based on the P3HT/ZnO films with the ratio of 1:1 exhibited the best output and transfer curves. Different changing tendency were observed with the increase of ZnO proportion when exposed to HCHO at room temperature, and the device with the ratio of 1:1 behaved a good response and recovery characteristics.     

IWO缓冲层对MOCVD-ZnO:B薄膜性能的影响研究

金属有机化学气相沉积(MOCVD)技术生长的绒面ZnO透明导电(ZnO-TCO)薄膜应用于Si基薄膜太阳电池上能够形成"陷光结构",以提高薄膜太阳电池效率和稳定性。本文将电子束反应蒸发技术生长的掺W的In2O3(In2O3:W,(IWO)薄膜作为缓冲层,应用于MOCVD-ZnO:B薄膜与玻璃之间,可促进ZnO:B薄膜的生长,并且有效提升薄膜的光散射特性。当IWO缓冲层厚度为20nm时,获得的IWO/ZnO:B薄膜的电阻率为2.07×10-3Ω.cm,迁移率为20.9cm2.V-1.s-1,载流子浓度为1.44×1020 cm-3;同时,薄膜具有的透过率大于85%,且在550nm处绒度较ZnO:B薄膜提高了约9.5%,在800nm处绒度较ZnO:B薄膜提高了约4.5%。     

本征和Al3+掺杂ZnO薄膜的特性研究

采用溶胶-凝胶方法在载玻片衬底上制备了本征及不同Al3+掺杂浓度的ZnO:Al薄膜,利用X射线衍射(XRD)、原子力显微镜,紫外-可见光吸收光谱及霍尔效应研究了Al3+掺杂浓度对ZnO:Al薄膜结构和光电性能的影响。结果显示,ZnO:Al薄膜为六角纤锌矿晶体结构,具有很高的沿c轴的(002)择优取向,Al3+掺杂并没有改变ZnO的晶体结构,只是Al取代了Zn;掺杂前后薄膜样品均在ZnO带边吸收的位置有较强的吸收而在可见光范围吸收较小;并且当Al3+掺杂浓度为1.5%(摩尔百分比)时所获得的ZnO:Al薄膜具有最小的电阻率,为26Ωcm。     

ZnO薄膜紫外光敏特性及晶界势垒的研究

以二水合醋酸锌为原料,采用sol-gel法在石英衬底上制备了ZnO薄膜。用AFM观察表面形貌,通过测量真空条件下不同温度热处理后薄膜的I-V特性,拟合计算晶界势垒高度。研究了热处理温度对ZnO薄膜性能的影响。结果表明:经650℃热处理制备的ZnO薄膜样品具有较佳性能,结构均匀致密,粒径分布为20～32nm。在10V偏压和1.24×10–3W/cm2光强下,紫外光灵敏度为43.95;无光照条件下晶界势垒高度为0.079eV。紫外光照使晶界势垒高度下降为0.011eV,薄膜的紫外光灵敏度与势垒高度的相对变化密切相关。     

基板温度对氧化锌薄膜晶体管性能的影响

以ITO玻璃为衬底,利用射频磁控溅射制备了以氧化硅为绝缘层的氧化锌薄膜晶体管。研究了氧化锌薄膜制备过程中不同的衬底温度（衬底温度分别为室温、100℃ 和200℃）对于器件性能的影响。和室温下制备的氧化锌薄膜晶体管相比,衬底温度200℃条件下制备的器件的场效应迁移率提高了94% （从1.6cm2/Vs 提高至3.11cm2/Vs）,亚阈值摆幅 从2.5V/dec 降低至1.9 V/dec 而且阈值电压漂移也从18V 减小至3V （老化电压为25V的正栅压,老化时间为1小时）。实验结果表明,衬底加热对于氧化锌薄膜晶体管的迁移率、亚阈值摆幅和偏压稳定性有明显的影响。利用原子力显微镜AFM对氧化锌薄膜的特性就行了研究,器件性能提高的原因也在文中进行了阐述。     

Spontaneous growth by sol-gel process of low temperature ZnO as cathode buffer layer in flexible inverted organic solar cells

In this study, the sol–gel method was employed to prepare zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films as cathode buffer layers for inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs). We used a low temperature sol-gel process for the synthesis of ZnO thin films, in which the molar ratio of zinc acetate dihydrate (ZAD) to ethanolamine (MEA) was varied; subsequently, using the thin films, we successfully fabricated inverted solar cells on flexible plastic substrates. A ZnO sol–gel was first prepared by dissolving ZAD and MEA in ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME). The molar ratios of ZAD to MEA were set as 1:1.2, 1:1, and 1:0.8, and we investigated the characteristics of the resulting ZnO thin films. We investigated the optical transmittance, surface roughness, and surface morphology of the films. Then, we discussed the reasons about the improvement of the device efficiency. The devices were fabricated using the ZnO thin films as cathode buffer layers. The results indicated that the morphology of the thin films prepared using the ZAD to MEA ratios of 1:1 and 1:0.8 changed to a rippled nanostructure after two-step annealing. The PCE was enhanced because of the higher light absorption in the active layer caused by the nanostructure. The structure of the inverted device was ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PC₆₁BM/MoO₃/Ag. The short-circuit current densities (8.59 mA/cm² and 8.34 mA/cm²) of the devices with films prepared using the ZAD to MEA ratios of 1:1 and 1:0.8 ratios, respectively, and annealed at 125 °C were higher than that of the device containing the ZnO thin film that was annealed at 150 °C. Inverted solar cells with ZnO films that were prepared using the ZAD to MEA ratios of 1:1 and 1:0.8 and annealed at 125 °C exhibited PCEs of 3.38% and 3.30%, respectively. More than that, PCEs of the flexible device can reach up to 1.53%.