Zinc oxide (ZnO) has drawn much interest as a potential transparent conducting oxide (TCO) for applying to solar cell and front electrode of electro-luminescent devices due to non-toxicity, low cost, and high abundance and stability in hydrogen plasma. For the enhancement of electrical property of TCOs, dopant introduction and hybridization with conductive nanoparticles have been investigated. Finally metal dopants and nanoparticles have been used in the electronic industry for the manufacture of conductive circuits and internal electrodes. An introduction of metal dopants and nanoparticles into TCOs influences its conductivity and also transparency but their influences are not always prospective.

In this work, the optical and electrical characteristics of ZnO films with the introduction of metal dopants with/without Ag nanoparticles have been investigated to check whether there is a combined effect between metal dopants and Ag nanoparticles on the characteristics of ZnO film. ZnO films were formed on glass substrate by using photochemical solution deposition of Ag nanoparticles dispersed or various metal (Ag, Cd, In, or Sn) contained photosensitive ZnO solutions. The usage of photosensitive solution permits us to obtain a micron-sized direct patterning of ZnO film without using conventional dry etching procedure. The phase formation and crystallinity of ZnO film were monitored with x-ray diffractometer. The optical transmittance measurement was carried out using UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer and the electrical properties such as sheet resistance and conductivity were observed by using four-point probe. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to investigate whether there is a chemical interaction between additives and matrix ZnO film.

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