Organic photovoltaics with non-stoichiometric InZnSnO thin film cathodes

Non-stoichiometric indium zinc tin oxide (IZTO) thin films were deposited onto glass substrates at 400 °C by DC magnetron sputtering using non-stoichiometric (In_0.5Zn_0.25-xSn_0.25+xO_1.5 and In_0.4Zn_0.3-xSn_0.3+xO_1.5, where x = ±0.05) IZTO ceramic targets. After deposition, all of the films were given annealing treatment at 450 °C in argon. The crystallization behavior was examined by X-ray diffraction, while the optical properties were measured by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, in which the average transmittance values higher than 80% were observed from all films. The minimum resistivity of approximately 6.3×10^-4 ωcm was observed from the Sn-rich In_0.5Zn_0.2Sn_0.3O_1.5 film. The resistivity values of Sn-rich IZTO thin films were a little smaller than those of Zn-rich IZTO films. An OPV cell with the so-called inverted structure was fabricated using various IZTO films deposited under optimized conditions as the cathode electrode. It was found that the solar cell efficiency could reach up to 7.9% which is the same with the OPV cell with conventional ITO film.