Premium
Effects of Thallium–Aluminum‐Codoped Zinc Oxide Thin Film as a New Transparent Conducting Oxide
Author(s) -
Zamani Meymian Mohammad-Reza,
Mousavi Mir-Ali,
Rabbani Mahboubeh,
Fallah Milad
Publication year - 2021
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.202000619
Subject(s) - thallium , zinc , materials science , oxide , transparency (behavior) , doping , aluminum oxide , electrical resistivity and conductivity , aluminium , transparent conducting film , thin film , sheet resistance , optical transparency , inorganic chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , metallurgy , chemistry , layer (electronics) , environmental chemistry , electrical engineering , political science , law , engineering
Herein, the electro–optical properties of sol–gel spin‐coated “thallium–aluminum‐codoped zinc oxide (TAZO)” focusing on the effects of thallium are investigated. It is shown that the amount of thallium (Tl) has a significant effect on improving the electrical properties of TAZO as a new transparent conducting oxide (TCO). The optimum results are achieved by adding 1 at% of Tl to aluminum‐doped zinc oxide (AZO), after which the sheet resistance ( R s ) value is reduced from 30.21 to 2.832 KΩ sq −1 . Although less R s is recorded in all amounts of Tl used (from 1 to 4 at%) than in Tl‐free samples, R s also increases as the amount of Tl increases, which is related to the degradation of the crystal structure at higher values of Tl. In view of a trade‐off between electrical conductivity and optical transparency, a decrease in transparency in the presence of Tl is a predictable issue, but while the Tl‐free samples record 90% transparency, the uniform thin film of 1 at% Tl‐AZO is able to achieve 85% transparency. This small amount of reduction in transparency shows the high potential of Tl to improve the properties of AZO as a TCO.