Indium-doped zinc oxide thin films deposited by chemical spray starting from zinc acetylacetonate: effect of the alcohol and substrate temperature

Highly conductive and transparent indium-doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited by the chemical spray technique on sodocalcic glass substrates starting from zinc acetylacetonate. The role of the type of alcohols, namely, methanol, ethanol and isopropyl and the substrate temperature on the electrical, structural, surface morphology and optical characteristics of the thin films were studied. The results show that some of the physical characteristics under study are effectively modified by the temperature as well as the kind of the alcohol used. A resistivity value of 3×10−3 Ωcm with a mobility of 6 cm2/(V s) and a carrier concentration of 1021 cm−3 were found for the best films. All the films were polycrystalline fitting well with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. High texture surface, which enhance light trapping was observed in films deposited with an ethanol-containing solution. The transmittance of the films is higher than 85% in all the cases, and a band gap value of around 3.3 eV was also found.