Optical and electrical properties of transparent conducting gallium-doped ZnO electrodes prepared by atomic layer deposition for application in organic solar cells

Transparent and conducting gallium-doped ZnO electrodes were fabricated by means of atomic layer deposition. The electrode showed the lowest resistivity of 7.19 x 10(-4) Omega cm at a 5% cyclic layer deposition ratio of Trimethyl-gallium and Diethyl-zinc chemicals. The electrodes showed minimum resistivity when deposited at a temperature of 250 degrees C. The electrode also showed optical transmittance of about 82%-89% with film thicknesses between 100 nm and 300 nm. An organic solar cell made with a 300-nm-thick gallium-doped ZnO electrode exhibited 2.5% power conversion efficiency, and an efficiency equivalent to that of cells made with conventional indium tin oxide electrodes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.