Effects of intermittent atomization on the properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films deposited by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition

•Intermittent atomization is proved to be an effective measure.•Atomization interval time has an important influence on the crystallinity of films.•The surface morphology of ZnO films depends on atomization interval time.•Different hazes can be obtained by changing the atomization interval time.

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared on glass substrates with different atomization interval times by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. The structure, morphology, and optical and electrical properties were investigated by X-ray diffractometer, atomic force microscope, UV-vis double beam spectrophotometer and 4 point probe method. ZnO thin films exhibited strong growth orientation along the (002) plane and the crystalline was affected by the atomization interval time. All the films had high transmittance and the films with interval times of 2 min and 4 min had good haze values for the transparent conducting oxide silicon solar cell applications. The AZO thin film had the best optical and electrical properties when the atomization interval time was 4 min. This is very important for the optoelectronic device applications. The surface morphology of AZO films depended on the atomization interval time.