Abstract
We present a novel ZnO:Al fabrication process consisting of room-temperature vacuum sputtering followed by an excimer laser annealing (ELA). The ELA treatment improves the optical transmission of the films, and the film resistivities (<1 mΩ·cm) remain stable or improve with increasing laser fluence up to 0.6 J/cm2, as the carrier density increases but the carrier mobility is degraded. This process is followed by a standard dilute HCl chemical texturing step, and produces substrates with suitable texture, conductivity, and transparency properties for thinfilm photovoltaic applications. Substrates resulting from this process display elevated haze levels (80% at 600 nm and 50% at 800 nm) after the wet-chemical etching step. Such substrates have been used to make single junction hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon solar cells, and an increase in the short-circuit current of up to 2.2 mA/cm2 is observed compared to a substrate deposited by a standard room-temperature sputtering + wet-etch process. This gain is primarily due to increased photo-response in the red due to improved light-scattering, as at wavelengths greater than 600 nm, a gain in photocurrent of up to 1.7 mA/cm2 is observed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
O. Kluth, B. Rech, L. Houben, S. Wieder, G. Schöpe, C. Beneking, H. Wagner, A. Löffl, and H.W. Schock, Thin Solid Films 351 (1999) 247.
C. Agashe, O. Kluth, J. Hüpkes, U. Zastrow, and B. Rech, J. Appl. Phys. 95 (2004) 1911.
O. Kluth, G. Schöpe, J. Hüpkes, C. Agashe, J. Müller, B. Rech, Thin Solid Films 442 (2003) 80.
O. Kluth, A. Loffl, S. Wieder, et al., Proc. 26th, IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conf., Anaheim (1997) 715.
K.K.Kim, H. Tampo, J.O. Song, T.Y. Seong, S.J. Park, J.M. Lee S.W. Kim, S. Fujita, and S. Niki, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. (2005) 4776.
I. Ozerova, M. Araba, V.I. Safarova, W. Marinea, S. Giorgiob, M. Sentisc, L. Nanaid, Appl. Surf. Sci. 226 (2004) 242.
G.K. Bhaumik, A.K. Nath, S. Basu, Mater. Sci. Eng. B52 (1998) 25.
T. Yen, D. Strome, Sung Jin Kim, A. N. Cartwright and W. A. Anderson, J. Elec. Mater. 37 (2007) 764.
J. Meier, R. Fluckiger, H. Keppner, and A. Shah, Appl. Phys. Lett. 65 (1994) 860.
K. Postava, H. Sueki, M. Aoyama, T. Yamaguchi, K. Murakami, and Y. Isasaki, Appl. Surf. Sci. 175–176 (2001) 543.
G. Yue, L. Sivec, J. M. Owens, B. Yan, J. Yang, and S. Guha, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95 (2009) 263501.
H. Li, R. H. Franken, J. Rath, and R. E. I. Schropp, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 93, (2009) 338.
M. Python, O. Madani, D. Dominé, F. Meillaud, E. Vallat-Sauvain, and C.Ballif, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 93 (2009) 1714.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, E.V., Charpentier, C., Emeraud, T. et al. Room Temperature Fabricated ZnO:Al with Elevated and Unique Light-Trapping Performance. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1321, 1717 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2011.818
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2011.818