Ion beam assisted sputter deposition of ZnO for silicon thin-film solar cells

Abstract

Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) is a promising technique for improving the material quality of ZnO-based thin films. The operation of an auxiliary Ar+ ion source during deposition of ZnO : Ga thin films by dc magnetron sputtering led to an improvement in crystalline texture, especially at low temperatures due to momentum transfer from the ions to the growing film. Etching of IBAD-ZnO : Ga films in diluted HCl revealed crater-like surface structures with crater diameters of up to 600 nm. These structures are usually achieved after deposition at high substrate temperatures. This is an indication that the grain structure was remarkably changed by bombarding these films during deposition in terms of increasing the compactness of the ZnO : Ga films. Subsequent annealing procedures led to an improvement in the electrical and optical properties. Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (µc-Si : H) solar cells exhibited enhanced efficiency as compared to cells on other low-temperature sputtered reference ZnO films. This improvement was ascribed to light trapping by the modified etching behaviour of the IBAD-ZnO : Ga films as well as improved transparency after the vacuum annealing step.