Recent Developments of ZnO-Based P-Type Transparent Conductive Oxide Thin Films

Abstract:

Nowadays, high performance p-type transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin films have gained tremendous intersts, and the fact is that if p-type TCOs with high electrical conductivity and optical transmittance can be fabricated, transparent p-n junctions can be obtained and invisible electronics be realized, and hence the use area of TCOs will be highly broadened. A lot of work have been done on non-stoichiometric and doped versions of p-type TCOs in the last few years to improve the optical and electrical properties by various deposition techniques. ZnO-based thin films were thought to be the most promising candidate for p-type TCOs based on the fact that ZnO has advantages over the others, so in this paper the development of ZnO-based p-type TCOs has been discussed. Firstly, the reasons why p-type ZnO-based TCOs are difficult to synthesize were discussed, and then the general ways now used to produce p-type ZnO-based TCOs were summerized, including intrinsic p-type ZnO, doping of groupelements, codoping of and elements, doping of group elements, the origin of p-type conductivity and the feasibility of each way, and the state-of-the-art optical and electrical properties were presented. Finally, the specific shortcomings in producing high quality p-type TCOs were discussed. Based on the comparision, it is believed that the doping of groupelements in ZnO may be the most pronising way in realizing p-type TCO.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volumes 743-744)
• Pages: 878-885
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.743-744.878
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Ming Wang, Xun Gang Diao, Ting Ting Guo, Xuan Wang
• Keywords: Fabrication Developments, P-Type TCO, ZnO-Based Thin Films

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