Thin film zinc oxide deposited by CVD and PVD

Abstract

Abstract. Zinc oxide is known as a mineral since 1810, but it came to scientific interest after its optoelectronic properties found to be tuneable by p-type doping. Since the late 1980's the number of publications increased exponentially. All thin film deposition technologies, including sol-gel and spray pyrolysis, are able to produce ZnO films. However, for outstanding properties and specific doping, only chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition have shown so far satisfying results in terms of high conductivity and high transparency. In this paper the different possibilities for doping will be discussed, some important applications of doped ZnO thin films will be presented. The deposition technologies used for industrial applications are shown in this paper. Especially sputtering of aluminium doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:Al or AZO) and LPCVD of boron doped Zinc Oxide (ZnO:B or BZO) are used for the commercial production of transparent conductive oxide films on glass used for thin film photovoltaic cells. For this special application the typical process development for large area deposition is presented, with the important trade-off between optical properties (transparency and ability for light scattering) and electrical properties (conductivity). Also, the long term stability of doped ZnO films is important for applications, humidity in the ambient is often the reason for degradation of the films. The differences between the mentioned materials are presented.

A review on zinc oxide composites for energy storage applications: solar cells, batteries, and supercapacitors

“…The sputtering physical deposition technique was applied to synthesis aluminum-doped Zinc oxide (ZnO: Al or AZO) and used as transparent conductive oxide films in thin-film photovoltaic cells. The distinctive process development appropriate for large area deposition was presented for this specific application, with the key compromise between optical properties (transparency and light scattering) and electrical characteristics (conductivity) [70]. Physical vapor deposition (PVD) associated with dip-coating was applied to synthesis ZnO/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) doubled coating on Mg-0.8Ca-3Zn alloy [71].…”

Functional Sensory Nanostructures (Review)

“…Значительный прогресс достигнут при применении различных способов осаждения оксидов металлов из газовой фазы (CVD) [167,168], включая металлорганическое химическое осаждение из паровой фазы (MOCVD) [169] и физическое осаждение из паровой фазы (PVD) [170,171]. Механизмы детекции в наносенсорах на основе оксидов металлов.…”

The Influence of Magnetron Sputtering Process Temperature on ZnO Thin-Film Properties

“…In the case of ZnO thin films, many techniques of its deposition mainly based on physical and chemical processes are used [6,8]. The most common are sol-gel [9][10][11], Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) [12][13][14][15] and Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) [16][17][18][19].…”