Properties of Sprayed Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Films—A Review

Abstract

Owing to the low-cost, nontoxicity and abundance, aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films become a better alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) films. Therefore, development of AZO films with transparent conducting properties comparable to that of ITO is one of the main focuses of material scientists, and hence various ways and means are attempted for the past two decades. Also, the production of cost-effective transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films is a presently engaged task of R&D departments of optoelectronic industries. In this paper, we present a detailed review on the effects of various process parameters on the characteristics of AZO thin films deposited using one of the low-cost fabrication techniques called spray pyrolysis. More than 100 original research articles related to this topic have been surveyed and analyzed critically. Results obtained from our experimental work are compared with the collected data, and an interesting correlation between the properties of AZO films has been found out and reported.