Dopant-induced bandgap shift in Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

A series of 1 at. % Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films were deposited onto glass substrates by a spray pyrolysis technique. We find that the observed blue shift in the optical bandgap of 1% AZO films is dominated by the Burstein Moss effect. The Fermi level for an 807 nm thick AZO film rose by some 0.16 eV with respect to the edge of the conduction band. By controlling the film thickness, all AZO films exhibit the same lattice strain values. The influence of strain-induced bandgap shift was excluded by selecting films with nearly the same level of bandgap volume-deformation potentials, and the differences in out-plain strain and in-plain stress remained effectively constant.