The fabrication and application of ZnO:Al thin films in low-frequency inductively coupled plasma fabricated silicon solar cell

摘要

A home-made radio frequency magnetron sputtering is used to systematically study the structural, electrical, and optical properties of aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) thin films. The intensity of the (002) peak ex hibits a remarkable enhancement with increasing film thickness. Upon optimization, we achieved low resis tivity of 4.2 × 10~(-4) Ω cm and high transmittance of ～88% for ZnO:Al films. Based on the present experimental data, the carrier transport mechanism is discussed. It is found that the grain boundary scattering needs to be considered because the mean free path of free carrier is comparable to the grain size. The 80 nm-ZnO:Al thin films are then deposited onto low-frequency inductively coupled plasma fabricated silicon solar cells to as sess the effect of ZnO:Al thin films on the performance of the solar cells. Optimized ZnO:Al thin films are iden tified as transparent and conductive oxide thin film layers.