Post-annealed gallium and aluminum co-doped zinc oxide films applied in organic photovoltaic devices

Gallium and aluminum co-doped zinc oxide (GAZO) films were produced by magnetron sputtering. The GAZO films were post-annealed in either vacuum or hydrogen microwave plasma. Vacuum- and hydrogen microwave plasma-annealed GAZO films show different surface morphologies and lattice structures. The surface roughness and the spacing between adjacent (002) planes decrease; grain growth occurs for the GAZO films after vacuum annealing. The surface roughness increases and nanocrystals are grown for the GAZO films after hydrogen microwave plasma annealing. Both vacuum and hydrogen microwave plasma annealing can improve the electrical and optical properties of GAZO films. Hydrogen microwave plasma annealing improves more than vacuum annealing does for GAZO films. An electrical resistivity of 4.7 × 10(−4) Ω-cm and average optical transmittance in the visible range from 400 to 800 nm of 95% can be obtained for the GAZO films after hydrogen microwave plasma annealing. Hybrid organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices were fabricated on the as-deposited, vacuum-annealed, and hydrogen microwave plasma-annealed GAZO-coated glass substrates. The active layer consisted of blended poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) in the OPV devices. The power conversion efficiency of the OPV devices is 1.22% for the hydrogen microwave plasma-annealed GAZO films, which is nearly two times higher compared with that for the as-deposited GAZO films.