The effects of impurity and temperature for transparent conducting oxide properties of Al:ZnO deposited by dc magnetron sputtering

► Al-doped ZnO film as TCO of thin film solar cells by dc magnetron sputtering at room temperature. ► Quality of films is affected by incident impurity ratio. ► Electrical and optical properties of AZO films can be improved at high substrate temperature. ► Mobility and carrier concentration are improved by increased crystallinity, preferred orientation, and grain size.