Indium Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films Deposited by Ultrasonic Chemical Spray Technique, Starting from Zinc Acetylacetonate and Indium Chloride
Rajesh Biswal,
Arturo Maldonado,
Jaime Vega-Pérez,
Dwight Roberto Acosta,
María De La Luz Olvera
Affiliations
Rajesh Biswal
Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Sección de Electrónica del Estado Sólido, Código Postal 07360, México D.F., Mexico
Arturo Maldonado
Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Sección de Electrónica del Estado Sólido, Código Postal 07360, México D.F., Mexico
Jaime Vega-Pérez
Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Unidad Ticoman del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Código Postal 07340, México D.F., Mexico
Dwight Roberto Acosta
Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Código Postal 04510, México D.F., Mexico
María De La Luz Olvera
Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Sección de Electrónica del Estado Sólido, Código Postal 07360, México D.F., Mexico
The physical characteristics of ultrasonically sprayed indium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:In) thin films, with electrical resistivity as low as 3.42 × 10−3 Ω·cm and high optical transmittance, in the visible range, of 50%–70% is presented. Zinc acetylacetonate and indium chloride were used as the organometallic zinc precursor and the doping source, respectively, achieving ZnO:In thin films with growth rate in the order of 100 nm/min. The effects of both indium concentration and the substrate temperature on the structural, morphological, optical, and electrical characteristics were measured. All the films were polycrystalline, fitting well with hexagonal wurtzite type ZnO. A switching in preferential growth, from (002) to (101) planes for indium doped samples were observed. The surface morphology of the films showed a change from hexagonal slices to triangle shaped grains as the indium concentration increases. Potential applications as transparent conductive electrodes based on the resulting low electrical resistance and high optical transparency of the studied samples are considered.