Tailoring of textured ZnO: Al film via hydrogen

In this present study, textured hydrogen and aluminum co-doped ZnO (HAZO) films were directly prepared on glass substrates through a pulsed DC magnetron sputtering technique. The influence of hydrogen flow rate on the morphological, optical, and electrical properties of HAZO films was investigated. With increasing hydrogen flow rate, surface morphology changed from pyramid-like to crater-like, feature size increased, and light trapping ability improved. The change in micro-structure of the HAZO films showed that hydrogen suppresses the more complex peaks and optimizes the dominant (002) and (004) peaks. In our experiment, optimal HAZO film properties were achieved at a hydrogen flow rate of 8 sccm, showing higher light trapping ability than commercial textured SnO2: F (FTO).