Study of spatial distribution of electrical, optical and structural properties of magnetron sputtered AZO thin films

Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a commonly used transparent conducting oxide (TCO) material that is currently an integral part of thin film solar cells and silicon-based heterojunction photovoltaics. However, the large area uniformity and homogeneity of TCOs are major challenges to use this material as a front electrode in solar modules. This requires a detailed study of spatial distribution of TCOs' properties over the large area deposition. In this report, the electrical, optical and structural properties of AZO thin films deposited using RF magnetron sputtering technique have been studied spatially. It is observed from the results that the highly transparent and highly conducting films can be deposited over the substrate area which are approximately equal and above to the target area. The film crystallinity deteriorates away from the target region which strongly supports the XRD results.