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Effect of solvents and stabilizers on sol–gel deposition of Ga-doped zinc oxide TCO films

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Abstract

Gallium-doped zinc oxide spin-coated thin films have been prepared by the sol–gel method. The influence of two solvents, isopropanol and 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME), and two chelating agents, monoethanolamine (MEA) and diethanolamine (DEA), was investigated. X-ray diffraction shows preferential (002) c-axis orientation of the crystallites influenced by the doping content and starting solution composition. Better orientation was obtained with 2-ME as a solvent because of a slower evaporation rate during the spin coating. Better orientation was also obtained using MEA as a stabilizer due to the weaker bonds formed with the Zn2+ ions. Typical film thickness was 550 nm. The transparency of the films was greater than 85% in the entire visible range. A sheet resistance of 68 Ω/□ was obtained for the ZnO film doped with 2 at.% of Ga using 2-ME and MEA as a solvent and stabilizer, respectively. The results show that the denser packing created using a high boiling temperature solvent and a low organic content stabilizer improved the layer’s electrical and optical properties.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Dr. J.M. Reisner (Department of Physics, Technion) for assistance in XRD measurements. We also thank Y. Cohen, B. Bank-Srur, A. Dana, R. Muscal, P. Bluvshtein, and L. Alterzon for their assistance in this work. The research was supported by the Grand Technion Energy Program; the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute of Technion; the Solar Energy Solutions MAGNET Consortium, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Israel; Arturo Gruenbaum Chair in Material Engineering; and the Berman-Shein solar energy research fund.

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  1. Chemical Engineering Department, Technion, Haifa, 32000, Israel

    Ido Winer, Gennady E. Shter, Meirav Mann-Lahav & Gideon S. Grader

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  1. Ido Winer
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  2. Gennady E. Shter
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  3. Meirav Mann-Lahav
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  4. Gideon S. Grader
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Correspondence to Gideon S. Grader.

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Winer, I., Shter, G.E., Mann-Lahav, M. et al. Effect of solvents and stabilizers on sol–gel deposition of Ga-doped zinc oxide TCO films. Journal of Materials Research 26, 1309–1315 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.69

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