Ultra-thin Hafnium doped ZnO films with enhanced optical transparency and electrical conductivity

In this research, highly transparent and conducting hafnium doped zinc oxide (HZO) thin films were prepared by the simple sol-gel dip coating technique. Controlled doping process and synthesis method were used to improve the optical and electrical properties of HZO thin films. The structures, optical and electrical properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, XPS, FESEM, TEM, EDS, UVVisible, and PL spectroscopy. Hall-effect measurement was performed to study the electrical properties of the HZO thin films. For the first time, HZO thin film with very low resistivity (4.2 x 10(-3) Omega.cm) was prepared. At room temperature, strong green emission peak was observed for HZO thin films. Obtained results in this study are better than reported results before. This improvement maybe related to the synthesis method of nanoparticles. HZO thin films maybe an affordable candidate for optoelectronic device applications and a new replacement for ITO thin film.