Fabrication of P-type transparent conducting Cu^sub x^Zn^sub 1-x^S films on glass substrates with high conductivity and optical transparency

Fabrication of p-type transparent conducting films on cheap substrate is highly desirable for the commercial applications. In this work, conductive and transparent p-type CuxZn1-xS films were successfully grown on glass substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method following by in situ annealing treatment. The experimental results indicate post-annealing treatment significantly improves the crystallinity of the films and correspondingly enhances the conductivity and optical transparency performance. Through systematical adjusting the growth parameters, the Cu0.35Zn0.65S films grown at T = 600 °C (in situ annealing for 0.5 h) possess excellent performance with conductivity σ = 261.1 S cm-1 at room temperature and average optical transmittance T = 58% in the visible region. Theoretical investigation shows that the Cu+ ions doping makes the primary contribution to valence band edges without creating defective bands in forbidden gap of ZnS, which is essential for p-type transparent conducting films. This work demonstrates the possibility of preparing p-type TCMs with relatively high conductivity and optical transparency on cheap glass substrates, which may be used for the development of “invisible electronics”.