Spray Deposited Nanocrystalline ZnO Transparent Electrodes: Role of Precursor Solvent

Authors C.M. Mahajan1,2, M. Pendharkar1, Y.A. Chaudhari3, S.S. Sawant1, B. Ankamwar4, M.G. Takwale2
Affiliations

1 Department of Engineering Sciences and Humanities, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune – 411 037, India

2 School of Energy Studies, Savitribai Phule Pune University – 411 007, India

3 Department of Physics, Shri Pancham Khemaraj Mahavidyalaya, Sawantwadi – 416 510, India

4 Department of Chemistry, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Ganeshkind, Pune – 411007, Maharashtra, India

Е-mail c_mahajan9@yahoo.com
Issue Volume 8, Year 2016, Number 2
Dates Received 21 March 2016; revised manuscript received 10 June 2016; published online 21 June 2016
Citation C.M. Mahajan, M. Pendharkar, Y.A. Chaudhari, et al., J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 8 No 2, 02026 (2016)
DOI 10.21272/jnep.8(2).02026
PACS Number(s) 73.61.Ga, 81.15.Rs, 61.05.C, 73.61.r, 78.66.w
Keywords ZnO thin films, Intermittent spray pyrolysis, XRD (90) , Electrical properties (19) , Optical properties (22) .
Annotation Nanocrystalline ZnO thin films were deposited by intermittent spray pyrolysis using different alcoholic and aqua-alcoholic precursor solvents. The XRD analysis reveals the polycrystallinity of hexagonal wurtzite type ZnO films with preferred c-axis orientation along [002] direction. The polycrystallinity increased due to use of aqua-alcoholic precursor solvent. The crystallite size was found to vary from 41.7 nm to 59.4 nm and blue shift in band-gap energy (3.225 eV to 3.255 eV) was observed due to aqua-alcoholic to alcoholic precursor solvent transition. The films deposited using alcoholic precursor solvent exhibited high transmittance (> 92 %) with low dark resistivity (10 – 3 Ω·cm) as compared to aqua-alcoholic precursor solvent. The effect of precursor solvent on resistivity, carrier concentration (η – /cm3), carrier mobility (μ – cm2V – 1s – 1), sheet resistance (Ω/) and figure of merit (ΦTC) is also reported. We recommend ethanol or methanol as a superior precursor solvent over aqua-alcoholic precursor solvent for deposition of device quality ZnO thin films.

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