Thin films of hafnium oxide have been grown by high pressure reactive sputtering on transparent quartz substrates (UV-grade silica) and silicon wafers. Deposition conditions were adjusted to obtain polycrystalline as well as amorphous films. Optical properties of the films deposited on the silica substrates were investigated by transmittance and reflectance spectroscopy in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared range (UV-VIS-NIR). A numerical analysis method that takes into account the different surface roughness of the polycrystalline and amorphous films was applied to calculate the optical constants (refractive index and absorption coefficient). Amorphous films were found to have a higher refractive index and a lower transparency than polycrystalline films. This is attributed to a higher density of the amorphous samples, which was confirmed by atomic density measurements performed by heavy-ion elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). The absorption coefficient gave an excellent fit to the Tauc law (indirect gap), which allowed to obtain a band gap value of 5.54 eV. The structure of the films (amorphous or polycrystalline) was found to have no significant influence on the nature of the band gap. The Tauc plots also give information about the structure of the films, because the slope of the plot (the Tauc parameter) is related to the degree of order in the bond network. The amorphous samples had a larger value of the Tauc parameter, i.e., more order than the polycrystalline samples. This is indicative of a uniform bond network with percolation of the bond chains, in contrast to the randomly oriented polycrystalline grains separated by grain boundaries.2

Selective ablation of thin films for the development of new photovoltaic panels and sensoring devices based on amorphous silicon (a-Si) is an emerging field, in which laser micromachining systems appear as appropriate tools for process development and device fabrication. In particular, a promising application is the development of purely photovoltaic position sensors. Standard p–i–n or Schottky configurations using transparent conductive oxides (TCO), a-Si and metals are especially well suited for these applications, appearing selective laser ablation as an ideal process for controlled material patterning and isolation. In this work a detailed study of laser ablation of a widely used TCO, indium-tin-oxide (ITO), and a-Si thin films of different thicknesses is presented, with special emphasis on the morphological analysis of the generated grooves. Excimer (KrF, λ = 248 nm) and DPSS lasers (λ = 355 and λ = 1064 nm) with nanosecond pulse duration have been used for material patterning. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques have been applied for the characterization of the ablated grooves. Additionally, process parametric windows have been determined in order to assess this technology as potentially competitive to standard photolithographic processes. The encouraging results obtained, with well-defined ablation grooves having thicknesses in the order of 10 µm both in ITO and in a-Si, open up the possibility of developing a high-performance double Schottky photovoltaic matrix position sensor.

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Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon thin films, as well as p-type doped with boron prepared by very high-frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, have been studied. Raman spectroscopy, atomic-force microscopy, lateral dark conductivity, and ultraviolet-visible transmittance were used to characterize each sample. Conductivity of all samples, as a function of the inverse of temperature, showed a thermally activated behavior of electric carriers with temperature-independent activation energy in all of the temperature ranges studied. Following the method proposed by Godet [C. Godet, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 299, 333 (2002)], assuming an exponential density of states for this group of different films, variable range hopping between defects near the Fermi level was established as a predominant electronic transport mechanism. Using classical equations of percolation theory, as well as the correlation found by Godet, the density of states near the Fermi level was calculated and found to give values that are consistent with the results of other independent experiments.

We report a hybrid solar cell based on single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) interfaced with amorphous silicon (a-Si). The high quality carbon nanotube network was dry transferred onto intrinsic a-Si forming Schottky junction for metallic SWNT bundles and heterojunctions for semiconducting SWNT bundles. The nanotube chemical doping and a-Si surface treatment minimized the hysteresis effect in current-voltage characteristics allowing an increase in the conversion efficiency to 1.5% under an air mass 1.5 solar spectrum simulator. We demonstrated that the thin SWNT film is able to replace a simultaneously p-doped a-Si layer and transparent conductive electrode in conventional amorphous silicon thin film photovoltaics.

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New architectures of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) incorporating graphene monolayers in different configurations have been explored with the aim to improve the performance of silicon-heterojunction (SHJ) cell front transparent contacts. In SHJ technology, front electrodes play an important additional role as anti-reflectance (AR) coatings. In this work, different transparent-conductive-oxide (TCO) thin films have been combined with graphene monolayers in different configurations, yielding advanced transparent electrodes specifically designed to minimize surface reflection over a wide range of wavelengths and angles of incidence and to improve electrical performance. A preliminary analysis reveals a strong dependence of the optoelectronic properties of the TCEs on (i) the order in which the different thin films are deposited or the graphene is transferred and (ii) the specific TCO material used. The results shows a clear electrical improvement when three graphene monolayers are placed on top on 80-nm-thick ITO thin film. This optimum TCE presents sheet resistances as low as 55 Ω/sq and an average conductance as high as 13.12 mS. In addition, the spectral reflectance of this TCE also shows an important reduction in its weighted reflectance value of 2–3%. Hence, the work undergone so far clearly suggests the possibility to noticeably improve transparent electrodes with this approach and therefore to further enhance silicon-heterojunction cell performance. These results achieved so far clearly open the possibility to noticeably improve TCEs and therefore to further enhance SHJ contact-technology performance.

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