Synthesis and Properties of Al-doped ZnO Thin Films for Photovoltaics

Polycrystalline undoped and Al-doped ZnO thin films were deposited by spray pyrolysis using oxygen and argon atmospheres. The influence of postdeposition vacuum annealing on the structure, morphology and optical properties was studied by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The thermal vacuum annealing induces structural and morphological changes, especially in Al-doped ZnO thin films synthetized in oxygen atmosphere. Further on, the electrical conductivity in dependence of the nature of gas atmosphere and Al concentration is discussed.