Development of natively textured surface hydrogenated Ga-doped ZnO-TCO thin films for solar cells via magnetron sputtering

► Natively textured surface hydrogenated gallium-doped zinc oxide (HGZO) thin films have been deposited via magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. ► The directly deposited HGZO thin films present rough crater-type surface morphology. ► Typical HGZO thin film exhibits a high electron mobility of 41.3 cm2/V s and a relative low sheet resistance of ∼7.0 Ω. ► These HGZO thin films have high optical transmittances in the visible and near infrared region (∼380-1100 nm). ► A gradient H2 growth method for fabricating HGZO thin films has been proposed in magnetron sputtering process.