Development of Novel Al-Doped Zinc Oxide Films Fabricated on Etched Glass and Their Application to Solar Cells

Abstract

We have successfully developed novel aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO-X) films with a high haze ratio by the combined use of an etched glass substrate and wet-etched AZO-X films. The effects of the use of an etched glass substrate and wet-chemical etching on the properties of AZO-X films were investigated. The texture size and rms roughness of these films largely increased with glass surface roughening. Post-treatment using wet chemical etching slightly increased the texture size and rms roughness. The etched glass approach has been found to be a promising method for achieving an AZO-coated glass substrate with a high haze ratio. Using high-haze ratio AZO-X films as the front transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers in solar cells, we improved the quantum efficiency (QE) of these solar cells particularly in the long-wavelength region. Thus, the AZO-X films deposited on etched glass have a high potential for use as front TCO layers in silicon-based thin-film solar cells.