A wet chemical preparation of transparent conducting thin films of Ga-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Crystalline gallium doped zinc oxide (GZO) nanopowders were synthesized using hydrothermal treatment processing. The doping concentration affected the phase structure as well as the shape of the nanopowder from nano rod-like structure to nanoparticulate one. The specific BET surface area increases with increasing the gallium doping concentration. Transparent conducting films were deposited on borosilicate glass substrate by spin coating using sols containing GZO nanoparticles dispersed in 1-propanol. The films are crystalline with a hexagonal structure. The effect of Ga doping concentration, sintering temperature and thickness of the layers has been investigated. The lowest resistivity achieved was 6.4 × 10⁻² Ω cm for a thickness of 150 nm. The films present a transmittance in the visible range as high as 90 %.