Preparation of ITO/SiOx/n-Si solar cells with non-decline potential field and hole tunneling by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Complete photo-generated minority carrier's quantum tunneling device under AM1.5 illumination is fabricated by depositing tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) on n-type silicon to form a structure of ITO/SiOx/n-Si heterojunction. The work function difference between ITO and n-Si materials essentially acts as the origin of built-in-field. Basing on the measured value of internal potential (Vbi = 0.61 V) and high conversion efficiency (9.27%), we infer that this larger photo-generated holes tunneling occurs when a strong inversion layer at the c-Si surface appears. Also, the mixed electronic states in the ultra-thin intermediate region between ITO and n-Si play a defect-assisted tunneling.

Questing and the application for silicon based ternary compound within ultra-thin layer of SIS intermediate region

“…As reported in these papers [4][5][6][7][8], the photovoltaic characteristic of SIS solar cells has a strong dependence on the intermediate oxidation layer, which can act as passivity layer, tunneling function layer or inversion layer. Therefore, it is very important to determine the microstructure and property of this ultra-thin layer.…”

“…Dr. Du et al have presented the investigation on the role of ultrathin silicon oxide produced at the interface between ITO and Si in a structure of ITO/SiO x /p-Si heterojunction. They verified the SiO x layer at the interfacial region between ITO and Si, and then investigated the behavior of the photo-generated carriers transport through the insulator layer [4]. Jun-Woo Park et al discussed the transition from a nanocrystalline phase to an amorphous phase in In-Si-O thin films [5].…”

“…Transparent conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) materials are widely used in solar cells of various types because of its combined superior performances of optical transparency and excellent electrical conductivity. Thus, by depositing ITO films directly on Si wafers, a simple device structure of SIS heterojunction solar cells formed, possessing both comparatively highly efficient and lower cost, which aroused many attentions among researchers [2][3][4][5][6]. Giampiero de Cesare et al discussed the electrical properties of ITO/Crystalline-Silicon contact at different deposition temperatures [3].…”

Advancement of Schottky Barrier Solar Cells: A Review

“…The following table gives some clear idea about the materials of the top layer. Though these are the possible materials those can be used in MIS/SIS cells but mainly ZnO [18] , AZO (Fuchsel;Jia et al, 2013;Bethge), ITO (Cheek et al, 1978;Ashok et al, 1980;Saha et al, 1983;Saim et al, 1987;Simashkevich et al, 2004;Malik et al, 2008;Bruk et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2010;Du et al, 2015;Du et al, 2017) are used by most of the researchers. Another material which is very popular for n-type base material is Graphene (Li et al, 2010;Feng et al, 2012;Miao et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2015;Song et al, 2015).…”

Work Function Extraction of Indium Tin Oxide Films from MOSFET Devices

“…Further, all the devices were fabricated from the same silicon substrate having same doping concentration of 10 20 The work function of DC sputtered ITO film was reported as 4.68 eV using UPS. 21 The work function of thermally evaporated ITO films is reported in the range 4.60-4.75 eV.…”