Roughness-based monitoring of transparency and conductivity in boron-doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

Graphical abstract: Display Omitted Highlights: ► We report surface roughness dependent transparency and conductivity in ZnO films. ► The surface roughness with respected to boron doping concentrations is studied. ► Boron doped and pristine Zinc oxide thin films have showed ≥95% transmittance. ► Increased carrier concentration of 9.21 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −3} revealed from Hall measurement. -- Abstract: Sprayed polycrystalline ZnO and boron-doped ZnO thin films composed of spherical grains of 25–32 nm in diameters are used in roughness measurement and further correlated with the transparency and the conductivity characteristics. The surface roughness is increased up to Zn{sub 0.98}B{sub 0.02}O and then declined at higher boron concentrations. The sprayed ZnO films revealed ≥95% transmittance in the visible wavelength range, 1.956 × 10{sup −4} Ω cm electrical resistivity, 46 cm{sup 2}/V s Hall mobility and 9.21 × 10{sup 21} cm{sup −3} charge carrier concentration. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study has confirmed 0.15 eV binding energy change for Zn 2p{sub 3/2} when 2 at% boron content is mixed without altering electro-optical properties substantially. Finally, using soft modeling importance of these textured ZnO over non-textured films for enhancing the solar cells performance is explored.