The effect of front ZnO:Al surface texture and optical transparency on efficient light trapping in silicon thin-film solar cells

Abstract

This study addresses the material properties of magnetron-sputtered aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) films and their application as front contacts in silicon thin-film solar cells. Optimized films exhibit high conductivity and transparency, as well as a surface topography with adapted light-scattering properties to induce efficient light trapping in silicon thin-film solar cells. We investigated the influence on the ZnO:Al properties of the amount of alumina in the target as well as the substrate temperature during sputter deposition. The alumina content in the target influences the carrier concentration leading to different conductivity and free carrier absorption in the near infrared. Additionally, a distinct influence on the film growth of the ZnO:Al layer was found. The latter affects the surface topography which develops during wet-chemical etching in diluted hydrochloric acid. Depending on alumina content in the target and heater temperature, three different regimes of etching behavior have been identified. Low amounts of target doping and low heater temperatures result in small and irregular features in the postetching surface topography, which does not scatter the light efficiently. At higher substrate temperatures and target doping levels, more regularly distributed craters evolve with mean opening angles between 120° and 135° and lateral sizes of 1–3μm. These layers are very effective in light scattering. In the third regime—at very high substrate temperatures and high doping levels—the postetching surface is rather flat and almost no light scattering is observed. We applied the ZnO:Al films as front contacts in thin-film silicon solar cells to study their light-trapping ability. While high transparency is a prerequisite, light trapping was improved by using front contacts with a surface topography consisting of relatively uniformly dispersed craters. We have identified a low amount of target doping (0.5–1wt%) and relatively high substrate temperatures (about 350–450°C as sputter parameters enabling short-circuit current densities as high as 26.8mA∕cm2 in μc-Si:H pin cells with an i-layer thickness of 1.9μm. Limitations on further improvements of light-trapping ability are discussed in comparison with the theoretical limitations and Monte Carlo simulations presented in the literature.

Transparent Electrodes for Efficient Optoelectronics

“…[144][145][146] AZO, like BZO, is attractive due to its non-toxicity and the abundance of Zn in the Earth's crust. The low FOM value compared to, e.g., BZO, is due to the higher FCA in AZO.…”

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

“…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.…”

Nanoimprint texturing of transparent flexible substrates for improved light management in thin‐film solar cells

“…The substrate had a nominal temperature of 125 °C to stay below the upper temperature limit of the PET substrate [10], and was rotating during the deposition process to improve the homogeneity. The layer thickness was 240 nm in the case of PET substrates and around 450 nm for the textured ZnO:Al on glass, after wet chemical etching [6,11] for 30 s in 0.5% HCl solution. The nanotexture of the imprinttextured PET films was replicated using a two-step nanoimprint lithography process.…”