Abstract
Different functionalities of materials based on indium tin oxide and fabricated at soft conditions were investigated with the goal of being used in a next generation of solar photovoltaic devices. These thin films were fabricated in a commercial UNIVEX 450B magnetron sputtering. The first studied functionality consisted of an effective n-type doped layer in an n-p heterojunction based on p-type crystalline silicon. At this point, the impact of the ITO film thickness (varied from 45 to 140 nm) and the substrate temperature (varied from room temperature to 250 °C) on the heterojunction parameters was evaluated separately. To avoid possible damages in the heterojunction interface, the applied ITO power was purposely set as low as 25 W; and to minimize the energy consumption, no heat treatment process was used. The second functionality consisted of indium-saving transparent conductive multicomponent materials for full spectrum applications. This was carried out by the doping of the ITO matrix with transition metals, as titanium and zinc. This action can reduce the production cost without sacrificing the optoelectronic film properties. The morphology, chemical, structural nature and optoelectronic properties were evaluated as function of the doping concentrations. The results revealed low manufactured and suitable films used successfully as conventional emitter, and near-infrared extended transparent conductive materials with superior performance that conventional ones, useful for full spectrum applications. Both can open interesting choices for cost-effective photovoltaic technologies.
Highlights
Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are attracted increasing interest as essential components for successful development of a wide range of optoelectronic devices and energy harvesting applications, such as touch screens, flat panels, solar photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes, sensors or low emissivity windows [1,2,3]
For indium tin oxide (ITO) film deposition, 4-inch diameter SnO2 :In2 O3 ceramic target provided by Neyco, Vanves, France was placed on a direct current (DC)
Taking as starting point the previous result showed in the Section 3.1.1, we study the Taking as starting point the previous result showed in the Section 3.1.1, we study the effect of increasing the ITO substrate temperature on the behavior of the heterojunction effect of increasing the ITO substrate temperature on the behavior of the heterojunction n-ITO/p-Si
Summary
Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are attracted increasing interest as essential components for successful development of a wide range of optoelectronic devices and energy harvesting applications, such as touch screens, flat panels, solar photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes, sensors or low emissivity windows [1,2,3]. Examples of the mostly used TCOs are indium tin oxide (ITO), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), cadmium oxide (CdO) or tin oxide (SnO2 ) [4,5,6] For all these materials, high performance in both visible-range transparency and conductivity, simultaneously, are highly desirable. The coexistence of both properties basically depends on its nature, its number and atomic arrangements of metal cations, its morphology and its intrinsic and/or introduced defects Thanks to these properties, TCOs present several and different roles on the devices; as example, they are an essential and crucial component in photovoltaic (PV) technology [7,8,9,10]. This is due to the TCO properties exert a strong influence on the PV cell parameters such as the open-circuit device voltage VOC or the short-circuit current
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