Method for Fabricating Textured High-Haze ZnO:Al Transparent Conduction Oxide Films on Chemically Etched Glass Substrates.

We developed a technique for forming textured aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films on glass substrates, which were etched using a mixture of hydrofluoric (HF) and hydrochloric (HCl) acids. The etching depth and surface roughness increased with an increase in the HF content and the etching time. The HF-based residues produced insoluble hexafluorosilicate anion- and oxide impurity-based semipermeable films, which reduced the etching rate. Using a small amount of HCl dissolved the Ca compounds, helping to fragment the semipermeable film. This formed random, complex structures on the glass substrates. The angled deposition of three layers of ZnO:Al led to the synthesis of multiscaled ZnO:Al textures on the glass substrates. The proposed approach resulted in textured ZnO:Al TCO films that exhibited high transmittance (-80%) and high haze (> 40%) values over wavelengths of 400-1000 nm, as well as low sheet resistances (< 18 Ω/sq)..Si tandem solar cells based on the ZnO:Al textured TCO films exhibited photocurrents and cell efficiencies that were 40% higher than those of cells with conventional TCO films.

Effective Light Trapping in Thin Film Silicon Solar Cells with Nano- and Microscale Structures on Glass Substrate.

For thin film silicon-based solar cells, effective light trapping at a broad range of wavelengths (400-1100 nm) is necessary. Normally, etching is only carried out with TCOs, such as SnO2:F and impurity doped ZnO, to form nano-sized craters in the surface morphology to confer a light trapping effect. However, in this study, prior to ZnO:Al etching, periodic structures on the glass substrates were made by photolithography and wet etching to increase the light scattering and internal reflection. The use of periodic structures on the glass substrate resulted in higher haze ratios in the range from 550 nm to 1100 nm, which is the optical absorption wavelength region for thin film silicon solar cells, than obtained by simple ZnO:Al etching. The periodically textured glass with micro-sized structures compensates for the low haze ratio at the middle and long wavelengths of wet etched ZnO:Al. ZnO:Al was deposited on the periodically textured glass, after which the ZnO:Al surface was also etched randomly using a mixed acid solution to form nano-sized craters. The thin film silicon solar cells with 350-nm-thick amorphous silicon absorber layer deposited on the periodic structured glass and etched ZnO:Al generated up to 10.68% more photocurrent, with 11.2% increase of the conversion efficiency compared to the cell deposited on flat glass and etched ZnO:Al.

Investigation of Electrical and Optical Properties of Highly Transparent TCO/Ag/TCO Multilayer.

Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) have been widely used as transparent electrodes for opto-electronic devices, such as solar cells, flat-panel displays, and light-emitting diodes, because of their unique characteristics of high optical transmittance and low electrical resistivity. Among various TCO materials, zinc oxide based films have recently received much attention because they have advantages over commonly used indium and tin-based oxide films. Most TCO films, however, exhibit valleys of transmittance in the wavelength range of 550-700 nm, lowering the average transmittance in the visible region and decreasing short-circuit current (Isc) of solar cells. A TCO/Ag/TCO multi-layer structure has emerged as an attractive alternative because it provides optical characteristics without the valley of transmittance compared with a 100-nm-thick single-layer TCO. In this article, we report the electrical, optical and surface properties of TCO/Ag/TCO. These multi-layers were deposited at room temperature with various Ag film thicknesses from 5 to 15 nm while the thickness of TCO thin film was fixed at 40 nm. The TCO/Ag/TCO multi-layer with a 10-nm-thick Ag film showed optimum transmittance in the visible (400-800 nm) wavelength region. These multi-layer structures have advantages over TCO layers of the same thickness.

Study of low resistivity and high work function ITO films prepared by oxygen flow rates and N2O plasma treatment for amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells.

Pulsed DC magnetron sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) films deposited on glass substrates with lowest resistivity of 2.62 x 10(-4) Ω x cm and high transmittance of about 89% in the visible wavelength region. We report the enhancement of ITO work function (Φ(ITO)) by the variation of oxygen (O2) flow rate and N2O surface plasma treatment. The Φ(ITO) increased from 4.43 to 4.56 eV with the increase in O2 flow rate from 0 to 4 sccm while surface treatment of N2O plasma further enhanced the ITO work function to 4.65 eV. The crystallinity of the ITO films improved with increasing O2 flow rate, as revealed by XRD analysis. The ITO work function was increased by the interfacial dipole resulting from the surface rich in O- ions and by the dipole moment formed at the ITO surface during N2O plasma treatment. The ITO films with high work functions can be used to modify the front barrier height in heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cells.

Fabrication of ZnO nanorods for gas sensing applications using hydrothermal method.

We showed well-aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays synthesized using hydrothermal method at atmospheric pressure. The influence of fabrication conditions such as Zn2+/hexamethylentriamin concentration ratio, and growth temperature on the formation of ZnO nanorods was investigated. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were used to confirm the single crystal of ZnO nanorods, which showed wurtzite structure with growth direction of [0001] (the c-axis). Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of ZnO nanorods revealed an intense ultraviolet peak at 388.5 nm (3.19 eV) at room temperature. The results showed that the ZnO seed layers had strong influence on the growth of vertically aligned ZnO nanorods. The gas sensor based on ZnO nanorod arrays had the most selectivity with n-butanol gas (within 2 surveyed gas: ethanol and n-butanol) and showed a higher sensitivity of 222, fast response time of 15 seconds, recovery time of 110 seconds and lower operating temperature of 200-250 °C than the sensor based on the ZnO film in the same detecting conditions.

Effects of target angle on the properties of aluminum doped zinc oxide films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering for thin film solar cell applications.

An aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films for front contacts of thin film solar cells, in this work, were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering with different target angles. Effects of target angles on the structural and electro-optical properties of AZO films were investigated. Also, to clarify the light trapping of textured AZO film, amorphous silicon thin film solar cells were fabricated on the textured AZO/glass substrate and the performance of solar cells were studied. The surface became more irregular with increasing the target angle due to larger grains. The self-surface textured morphology, which is a favorable property as front layer of solar cell, exhibited at target angle of 72.5 degrees. We obtained the films with various opto-electronic properties by controlling target angle from 32.5 degrees to 72.5 degrees. The spectral haze increased substantially with the target angle, whereas the electrical resistivity was increased. The conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells with textured AZO film as a front electrode was improved by the increase of short-circuit current density and fill factor, compared to cell with relatively flat AZO films.

Inserted layer of AZO thin film with high work function between transparent conductive oxide and p-layer and its solar cell application.

We report aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) films with high work function as an insertion layer between transparent conducting oxides (TCO) and hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) layer to improve open circuit voltage (V(oc)) and fill factor (FF) for thin film solar cells. Amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells exhibit poor fill factors due to a Schottky barrier at the interface between a-SiC:H window and TCO. The interface engineering is carried out by inserting an AZO layer with high work function (4.95 eV at O2 = 2 sccm). As a result, V(oc) and FF improved significantly. FF as high as 63.35% is obtained.

Enhancing light trapping properties of thin film solar cells by plasmonic effect of silver nanoparticles.

The preparation of thin film silicon solar cells containing Ag nanoparticles is reported in this article. Ag nanoparticles were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass substrates by the evaporation and condensation method. a-Si:H solar cells were deposited on these substrates by cluster type plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. We discuss the double textured surface effect with respect to both the surface morphology of the substrate and the plasmonic effect of the Ag nanoparticles. Ag nanoparticles of various sizes from 10 to 100 nm were deposited. The haze values of the Ag embedded samples increased with increasing particle size whereas the optical transmittance decreased at the same conditions. The solar cell with the 30 nm size Ag nanoparticles showed a short circuit current density of 12.97 mA/cm2, which is 0.53 mA/cm2 higher than that of the reference solar cell without Ag nanoparticles, and the highest quantum efficiency for wavelengths from 550 to 800 nm. When 30 nm size nanoparticles were employed, the conversion efficiency of the solar cell was increased from 6.195% to 6.696%. This study reports the application of the scattering effect of Ag nanoparticles for the improvement of the conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells.