Electrical prope r ties and Al doping site analysis of (002) oriented Al doped ZnO th in films prepared by chemical bath deposition

The highly (002) oriented Al doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared by a chemical bath deposition, and the doping sites of Al 3+ ions in ZnO thin films was investigated. All AZO films had high transparency in the visible wavelength range , while they showed poor electrical conducti vity The resistivity of these AZO thin films varied from 1.10×10 2 to 4.64×10 2 Ω·cm. As the AZO thin films were prepared by the chemical bath deposition, the substitution of Al 3+ ions for Zn 2+ ions was quite difficult in the ZnO crystal structure, and then the Al 3+ ions mainly segregated at the grain boundaries, which induced the low electrical conductivity