Superstrate p-i-n a-Si:H solar cells on textured ZnO:Al front transparent conduction oxide

Abstract

Superstrate p-i-n amorphous silicon thin-film (a-Si:H) solar cells are prepared on SnO2:F and ZnO:Al transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) in order to see the effect of TCO/p-layers on a-Si:H solar cell operation. The solar cells prepared on textured ZnO:Al have higher open circuit voltage Voc than cells prepared on SnO2:F. The presence of a thin microcrystalline p-type silicon layer (μc-Si:H) between ZnO:Al and p a-SiC:H plays a major role by causing an improvement in the fill factor as well as in Voc of a-Si:H solar cells prepared on ZnO:Al TCO. Without any treatment of the p-i interface, we could obtain a high Voc of 994 mV while keeping the fill factor (72.7%) and short circuit current density Jsc at the same level as for the cells on SnO2:F TCO. This high Voc value can be attributed to modification in the current transport in this region due to creation of a potential barrier.