Alternative CVD Methods for Deposition of Thin ZnO Films

Apart from the classical processes of AP-CVD and LP-CVD described in this chapter, some alternatives of CVD processes have also been tried in the laboratory for ZnO deposition  

In the same manner, PE-CVD of ZnO has been first studied with the goal of improving the crystallinity of c-axis oriented ZnO him growth at low substrate temperature (i.e. between 150 and 300°C) [49,50]. More recently, expanding thermal plasma has been coupled with an LP-CVD chamber in order to deposit natively rough ZnO films [51-53]. Fig. 6.46 shows the expanding thermal plasma aixtron reactor system used at Eindhoven University of Technology to deposit PE-CVD ZnO films. 

As none of these alternative processes have so far been used industrially for deposition of large area ZnO as TCO for thin film solar cells, they will not be treated in details here. 

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