Investigation on Transparent, Conductive ZnO:Al Films Deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition Process

Transparent electrodes are a core component for transparent electron devices, photoelectric devices, and advanced displays. In this work, we fabricate fully-transparent, highly-conductive Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) system method of repeatedly stacking ZnO and Al2O3 layers. The influences of Al cycle ratio (0, 2, 3, and 4%) on optical property, conductivity, crystallinity, surface morphology, and material components of the AZO films are examined, and current conduction mechanisms of the AZO films are analyzed. We found that Al doping increases electron concentration and optical bandgap width, allowing the AZO films to excellently combine low resistivity with high transmittance. Besides, Al doping induces preferred-growth-orientation transition from (002) to (100), which improves surface property and enhances current conduction across the AZO films. Interestingly, the AZO films with an Al cycle ratio of 3% show preferable film properties. Transparent ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) with AZO electrodes are fabricated, and the ZnO TFTs exhibit superior transparency and high performance. This work accelerates the practical application of the ALD process in fabricating transparent electrodes.

A parametric analysis of thermodynamic losses in an anode of a solid oxide fuel cell

In this paper, generation of thermodynamic losses in the micro-channels of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell electrode is discussed. Diffusive-convective equation is implemented to compute local concentrations of reagents. The model accounts for both the Fick’s, and the Knudsen’s diffusion. For a number of cases the total losses are decomposed to isolate the contributions of the diffusion, the current conduction, and the chemical reaction irreversibilities.