In substitution of the more traditionally used indium-tin-oxide (ITO), ZnO:Al allows for the use of inexpensive, non-toxic and earth-abundant ele-ments [4]. Several deposition methods, e.g., sputtering [5], thermal evaporation [6], chemical vapour deposition [7], sol–gel [8], and spray pyrolysis [9] have been reported in the literature for ZnO:Al films. Among them, the direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering deposition remains one of the most attractive technique, asit is a relatively simple and industrially scalable process, and it