title: Thermally Diffused Al:ZnO Thin Films for Broadband Transparent Conductor.
abstract: Here, we report an approach to realize highly transparent low resistance Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films for broadband transparent conductors. Thin Al films are deposited on ZnO surfaces, followed by thermal diffusion processes, introducing the Al doping into ZnO thin films. By utilizing the interdiffusion of Al, Zn, and O, the chemical state of Al on the surfaces can be converted to a fully oxidized state, resulting in a low sheet resistance of 6.2 Ω/sq and an excellent transparency (i.e., 96.5% at 550 nm and higher than 85% up to 2500 nm), which is superior compared with some previously reported values for indium tin oxide, solution processed AZO, and many transparent conducting materials using novel nanostructures. Such AZO films are also applied as transparent conducting layers for AZO/Si heterojunction solar cells, demonstrating their applications in optoelectronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo , Buffalo, New York 14260-1920, United States.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Incheon National University , Yeonsu Incheon, 406772, Korea.
authors.forename: Juhyung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo , Buffalo, New York 14260-1920, United States.
authors.forename: Yen-Jen
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo , Buffalo, New York 14260-1920, United States.
authors.forename: Dengxin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo , Buffalo, New York 14260-1920, United States.
authors.forename: Qiaoqiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, The State University of New York at Buffalo , Buffalo, New York 14260-1920, United States.
authors.forename: Wayne A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Anderson
keywords: Al-doped ZnO; broadband; chemical state change; heterojunction solar cells; interdiffusion; transparent conductor