Preparation of Al-doped ZnO transparent electrodes suitable for thin-film solar cell applications by various types of magnetron sputtering depositions

Nomoto, Junichi; Hirano, Toshisuke; Miyata, Toshihiro; Minami, Tadatsugu

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2011.10.003

Cited by 98 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The obtained lower resistivity in the AZO thin films prepared by rf+dc-MSD and rf-MSD, relative to dc-MSD, is related mainly to a higher mobility that may be attributable to better crystallinity of the films prepared by rf+dc-MSD and rf-MSD, as evidenced by XRD analyses [32]. In addition, it is well known that AZO thin films prepared on low temperature substrates by MSDs exhibit a resistivity distribution on the substrate surface that corresponds to the erosion pattern on the target surface, if the thin films were prepared with the substrate position fixed relative to that of the target [28,32]. With this configuration, the resistivity increase at the location on the substrate surface that corresponds to the erosion area of the target in films prepared by dc-MSD was always higher than that in films prepared by rf-MSD or rf+dc-MSD [32].…”

Section: Influence Of Doped Impurity and Deposition Methods On Electrimentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, the obtained deposition rate in thin films prepared by rf-MSD was very much lower than that found in dc-MSD or rf+dc-MSD, as mentioned above, possibly too low to use practically for transparent electrode applications in thin-film solar cells [28,33]. The obtained lower resistivity in the AZO thin films prepared by rf+dc-MSD and rf-MSD, relative to dc-MSD, is related mainly to a higher mobility that may be attributable to better crystallinity of the films prepared by rf+dc-MSD and rf-MSD, as evidenced by XRD analyses [32]. In addition, it is well known that AZO thin films prepared on low temperature substrates by MSDs exhibit a resistivity distribution on the substrate surface that corresponds to the erosion pattern on the target surface, if the thin films were prepared with the substrate position fixed relative to that of the target [28,32].…”

Section: Influence Of Doped Impurity and Deposition Methods On Electrimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In moisture-resistance tests, changes in the electrical properties of impurity-doped ZnO thin films were measured over time with exposure to highly moist environments: air at 85% relative humidity and 85 o C [8,31]. The suitability of the light scattering characteristics for thin-film solar cell applications was evaluated by carrying out surface texturing of the samples with wet-chemical etching in a 0.1% HCl solution at 25 o C conducted either before or after heat treatment with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) as well as without RTA treatment [32,33]. The RTA treatment was carried out using a lamp heated furnace at a temperature of 400 or 500 o C for 3 or 5 min in air.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Impurity-doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Physical Deposition Methods Appropriate for Transparent Electrode Applications in Thin-film Solar Cells

Minami

Miyata

Nomoto

2012

IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng.

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Section: Influence Of Doped Impurity and Deposition Methods On Electrimentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Influence Of Doped Impurity and Deposition Methods On Electrimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Impurity-doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Physical Deposition Methods Appropriate for Transparent Electrode Applications in Thin-film Solar Cells

Minami

Miyata

Nomoto

2012

IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng.

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“…It consists of abundant and non-toxic elements. ZnO:Al is applied in thin-film silicon 7,8 and chalcopyrite based solar cells 9,10 as transparent front contact. The application as front contact requires high conductivity and transparency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides self-textured TCOs such as SnO 2 :F or ZnO:B, 13 textured contact layers are produced by a post-deposition etching step of sputter-deposited ZnO:Al. 7,14,15 To ensure an etching morphology with appropriate light scattering properties, a careful adjustment of ZnO:Al deposition parameters such as pressure, temperature, 16 film thickness, 17 and target doping concentration (TDC) 8 is needed. However, conflicting requirements in terms of ZnO:Al deposition conditions prevail since conductivity, transparency, and surface texture need to be optimized simultaneously.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of the dopant aluminum for the growth of sputtered ZnO:Al investigated by means of a seed layer concept

Sommer

Stanley

Köhler

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Physics

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This work elucidates the effect of the dopant aluminum on the growth of magnetron-sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) films by means of a seed layer concept. Thin (<100 nm), highly doped seed layers and subsequently grown thick (∼800 nm), lowly doped bulk films were deposited using a ZnO:Al2O3 target with 2 wt. % and 1 wt. % Al2O3, respectively. We investigated the effect of bulk and seed layer deposition temperature as well as seed layer thickness on electrical, optical, and structural properties of ZnO:Al films. A reduction of deposition temperature by 100 °C was achieved without deteriorating conductivity, transparency, and etching morphology which renders these low-temperature films applicable as light-scattering front contact for thin-film silicon solar cells. Lowly doped bulk layers on highly doped seed layers showed smaller grains and lower surface roughness than their counterpart without seed layer. We attributed this observation to the beneficial role of the dopant aluminum that induces an enhanced surface diffusion length via a surfactant effect. The enhanced surface diffusion length promotes 2D-growth of the highly doped seed layer, which is then adopted by the subsequently grown and lowly doped bulk layer. Furthermore, we explained the seed layer induced increase of tensile stress on the basis of the grain boundary relaxation model. The model relates the grain size reduction to the tensile stress increase within the ZnO:Al films. Finally, temperature-dependent conductivity measurements, optical fits, and etching characteristics revealed that seed layers reduced grain boundary scattering. Thus, seed layers induced optimized grain boundary morphology with the result of a higher charge carrier mobility and more suitable etching characteristics. It is particularly compelling that we observed smaller grains to correlate with an enhanced charge carrier mobility. A seed layer thickness of 5 nm was sufficient to induce the beneficial effects.

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Nanoscale Electrical Investigation of Transparent Conductive Electrodes Based on Silver Nanowire Network

Pham

Ferri

Costa

et al. 2022

Adv Materials Inter

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Presently, metallic nanowires (NWs) are the most promising materials to fabricate flexible transparent electrodes as an alternative to indium tin oxide. Here, the high performance of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) based on silver nanowires (AgNWs) percolation networks is reported. With optimized experimental conditions for the deposition, the AgNWs result in low sheet resistance of 10 Ω sq−1 combined with a high optical transmittance of 92.6% at λ = 550 nm. This leads to a valuable figure of merit as compared to other TCEs. In this study, the nanoscale electrical properties of the AgNWs are measured via conductive atomic force microscopy to characterize the percolation network. The electrical resistivity value calculated for a single AgNW is found to be about 12.35 µΩ cm, while a nanoscale conductivity map over an AgNW network bridging two electrodes has revealed high levels of current within the network over a distance of more than 1000 µm. The favorable determined conductivity results along with the high optical properties of the AgNWs network strongly suggest that thin‐film electrodes based on AgNWs will be a potential approach for future flexible electronic devices.

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Preparation of Al-doped ZnO transparent electrodes suitable for thin-film solar cell applications by various types of magnetron sputtering depositions

Cited by 98 publications

References 28 publications

Impurity-doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Physical Deposition Methods Appropriate for Transparent Electrode Applications in Thin-film Solar Cells

Impurity-doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Physical Deposition Methods Appropriate for Transparent Electrode Applications in Thin-film Solar Cells

Role of the dopant aluminum for the growth of sputtered ZnO:Al investigated by means of a seed layer concept

Nanoscale Electrical Investigation of Transparent Conductive Electrodes Based on Silver Nanowire Network

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