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Possibilities of Increasing the Usability of Sputtered AZO Films as a Transparent Electrode
Author(s) -
Novák Petr
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800814
Subject(s) - indium tin oxide , materials science , electrode , usability , deposition (geology) , indium , silicon , tin , aluminium , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , thin film , composite material , metallurgy , computer science , chemistry , paleontology , human–computer interaction , sediment , engineering , biology
Aluminum‐doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a suitable material for use as transparent electrode. Due to its lower price it is applied in the production of silicon solar cells. However, it is difficult to obtain suitable electrical properties at low deposition temperatures. Moreover, the AZO films with low thickness exhibit significantly higher average resistivity, which limits their usability, especially if they are prepared on flexible substrates. A lot of effort is invested to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) to a much greater extent now, since Indium is rare and its price is rising, thus the preparation of low‐thickness AZO films at low temperature is also subject of intense research. The presented paper summarizes the reported results, discusses the causes of the differences between ITO and AZO films, and suggests the direction of research and the potential solution that should lead to increased usability of AZO films and also possible replacement of ITO films.