Investigation on the structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO-Y₂O₃ (YZO) thin films prepared by PLD for TCO layer applications

Zinc Oxide is a prominent wide bandgap material with an appreciable transparency which is widely utilized in transparent conducting oxide applications. However, metal doping on ZnO reports were extensively investigated for tuning the electrical p roperties. This article is focused on pulsed laser deposition of ZnO-Y₂O₃ (YZO) thin films with various concentrations of Y₂O₃ (0-5%) as a dopant in ZnO. X-ray diffraction spectrum of the YZO thin films exhibit s the presence of hexagonal wurtzite structure with a preferential orientation along the (002) plane. M orphology aspects of the film abides with XRD results which shown a uniform distribution till 2 wt% and displayed a gain in grain growth with increasing wt% of Y₂O₃. The influence of Y₂O₃ concentration on the optical transmittance of ZnO is investigated by Uv- Vis spectroscopy. The electrical resistivity of the deposited films is in the order ∼10⁻⁴ which was on par with the earlier reports suitable for TCO applications.