Experimental Study on Fabrication of AZO Transparent Electrode for Organic Solar Cell Using Selective Low-Temperature Atomic Layer Deposition

AZO (aluminum-doped zinc oxide) is one of the best candidate materials to replace Into (indium tin oxide) for TKOs (transparent conductive oxides) used in flat panel displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLDS), and organic solar cells (OCSS). In the present study, to apply an AZO thin film to the transparent electrode of an organic solar cell, a low temperature selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) process was adopted to deposit an AZO thin film on a flexible polyethylene-naphthanate (Pen) substrate. The reactive gases for the ALD process were di-ethyl-zinc (De) and tri-methylaluminum (Tma) as precursors and H2O as an oxidant. The structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of the AZO thin film were evaluated. From the measured results of the electrical and optical characteristics of the AZO thin films deposited on the Pen substrates by Ald, it was shown that the Azo thin film appeared to be comparable to a commercially used Into thin film, which confirmed the feasibility of AZO as a TCO for flexible organic solar cells in the near future