Gallium doped zinc oxide thin films as transparent conducting oxide for thin-film heaters

Abstract

The addition of suitable metallic dopants into the indium or zinc oxide matrix is essential to obtain transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films for high-performance optoelectronics devices. However, scarcity of indium is one of the major challenges for the common use of indium doped tin oxide (ITO) as a TCO material for future state-of-the-art devices. To overcome the challenge, doped zinc oxide is used an alternative material for traditional ITO and retains both high transparency and electrical conductivity. One such potential material is gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO). GZO thin films were deposited onto glass as well as Kapton substrates using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Structural, optical, and electro-thermal properties of these films were studied to assess the performance of the films as thin-film transparent heaters. The samples show a good transmittance value greater than 85% in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. At room temperature, the electrical resistivity of GZO films showed a value of 110.46 × 10−4 Ω cm on glass and 2.90 × 10−4 Ω cm on the Kapton substrate, followed by a Joule heating effect, with temperatures reaching more than 120 °C at an applied voltage of ∼12 V. This high transparency, cost-effectiveness, low sheet resistance, and small surface roughness make GZO a unique and potential candidate for various practical applications not only as a transparent electrode but also as an indium free thin-film transparent heater and an affordable transparent conducting oxide in displays.

Strategies toward Highly Efficient Monolithic Perovskite/Organic Tandem Solar Cells

“…Inspired by the carrier recombination layer of ICLs used in all‐perovskite TSCs, such as ITO, aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) and indium doped zinc oxide (IZO), which have advantages of high transmittance and good electrical conductivity, [ 140‐142 ] Chen et al . replaced the commonly used thermally evaporated ultra‐thin metal layer by the IZO layer to construct a monolithic perovskite/ organic TSC (Figure 16b).…”

“…As a result, the tandem device with this ICL showed a high PCE of 20.6%. [112] Inspired by the carrier recombination layer of ICLs used in all-perovskite TSCs, such as ITO, aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) and indium doped zinc oxide (IZO), which have advantages of high transmittance and good electrical conductivity, [140][141][142] Chen et al replaced the commonly used thermally evaporated ultra-thin metal layer by the IZO layer to construct a monolithic perovskite/ organic TSC (Figure 16b). [114] Theoretically, a qualified ICL needs to meet the requirements of high transmittance, maximum vertical conductivity and horizontal resistance.…”

Pulsed Laser Deposition of Transparent Conductive Oxides on UV-NIL Patterned Substrates for Optoelectronic Applications

“…Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films can be deposited by numerous chemical and physical methods such as sol-gel [21], spray pyrolysis [22], magnetron sputtering [23], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [24], atomic layer deposition [25], pulsed laser deposition (PLD) [20], etc., each of them having both advantages and limitations. PLD is a versatile technique used in the deposition of high-quality films based on ITO, AZO, indium-doped zinc oxide (IZO), Ga-doped ZnO (GZO), indium gallium zinc oxide (GIZO), ZnO-Y 2 O 3 (YZO), the obtained TCO layers having adequate properties for optoelectronic device area [26][27][28][29][30].…”

First Principle Study of Structural, Electronic, Optical Properties of Co-Doped ZnO

“…Experimental studies provide direct observations of the material's properties and behavior, while theoretical studies help to interpret and understand these observations, and to predict new properties that may be useful for various applications. Experimental studies on the CZO generally involve the synthesis of the material using various methods, such as the sol-gel process [2,[24][25][26], hydrothermal [27,28], electrodeposition [22,29] and pulse laser deposition [30], and the characterization of its properties using techniques such as X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy [31]. All these methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of method depends on the specific application and desired properties of the CZO material.…”