FTIR absorption spectroscopy as a novel method for thin film deposition rate measurement

The precise measurement of the deposition rate is an essential part of successful fabrication of thin films, both organic and inorganic ones. Established methods using quartz oscillators are known to possess a variety of disadvantages, foremost a very limited lifetime. Here, we report on a novel measurement technique for the deposition rate of organic thin films, based on Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Different organic species have been uniquely identified with similar accuracy compared to standard methods. The lifetime of the system can be vastly extended compared to quartz oscillators and multiple organic species can be detected simultaneously, allowing for co-deposition of materials with only one detector necessary. This method can be used for both quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of deposition or doping processes.     

Preparation,characterization and electroluminescence studies of copper doped zinc sulfide nanocrystals

Copper doped zinc sulfide nanoparticles were prepared by chemical precipitation method. The size of the particles was varied by changing the concentration of capping agent. The XRD studies indicate that most of the samples are cubic in nature. The broadening of peaks tends to increase with increasing capping agent concentration showing decrease in particle size. The crystalline size computed using Scherrer formula is found to be in range of 3–10 nm. Absorption spectra show absorption edge in UV region. The edge was found to shift towards shorter wavelength as the capping agent concentration is increased. This indicates increased effective band gap and hence reduced particle size. The nanoparticle size has been estimated in the range 5–10 nm using effective mass approximation model. For electroluminescence (EL) study of ZnS:Cu nanocrystals, the EL cells were prepared by placing ZnS:Cu nanoparticles between SnO₂ coated conducting glass plate and aluminum foil. Alternating voltage of various frequencies was applied and EL brightness (B) at different voltages (V) was measured and reported in this paper.     

高绒度掺硼氧化锌透明导电薄膜用作非晶硅太阳电池前电极的研究

将自行研制的具有优异陷光能力的掺硼氧化锌用作p-i-n型非晶硅太阳电池的前电极,并且将传统商业用U型掺氟二氧化锡作为对比电极.相比表面较为平滑的掺氟二氧化锡,掺硼氧化锌表面大类金字塔的绒面结构会在本征层生长过程中触发阴影效应,形成大量的高缺陷材料区和漏电沟道,进而恶化电池的开路电压和填充因子.在不修饰掺硼氧化锌表面形貌的情况下,通过调节非晶硅本征层的沉积温度来消弱高绒度表面形貌引起的这种不利影响,对应的电池开路电压和填充因子均出现提升.在仅有铝背电极的情况下,在本征层厚度为200 nm的情况下,以掺硼氧化锌为前电极的非晶硅太阳电池转换效率达7.34%(开路电压为0.9 V,填充因子为70.1%,短路电流密度11.7 mA/cm2).     

Electrodeposition of zinc oxide/tetrasulfonated copper phthalocyanine hybrid thin film for dye-sensitized solar cell application

Hybrid film of zinc oxide (ZnO) and tetrasulfonated copper phthalocyanine (TSPcCu) was grown on an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass by one-step cathodic electrodeposition from aqueous mixtures of Zn(NO₃)₂, TSPcCu and KCl. The addition of TSPcCu strongly influences the morphology and crystallographic orientation of the ZnO. The nanosheets stack of ZnO leads to a porous surface structure which is advantageous to further adsorb organic dyes. The photovoltaic properties were investigated by assembling the DSSC device based on both the only ZnO film and the ZnO/TSPcCu hybrid films. Photoelectrochemical analysis revealed that the optimized DSSC device with TSPcCu represented a more than three-fold improvement in power conversion efficiency than the device without TSPcCu. The DSSC based on ZnO/TSPcCu hybrid films demonstrates an open circuit voltage of 0.308 V, a short circuit current of 90 μA cm⁻², a fill factor of 0.26, and a power conversion efficiency of 0.14%.     

Local levels in a zinc sulfide film

The energies and densities of the local levels in an epitaxial ZnS film grown on a GaAs substrate are determined by methods based on thermally-stimulated currents, thermal deexcitation, and the photoluminescence spectrum. Levels are found at depths of 0.17, 0.2, 0.25, 0.31–0.33, 0.41, and 0.71 eV from the bottom of the conduction band and 1.15 eV from the top of the valence band. These results are compared with published data.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 10, pp. 95–98, October, 1973.     

Drying of thin film polymer solar cells

Our focus of investigations is on the dependency of the polymer solar cell (PSC) characteristics on drying conditions like temperature and kinetic effects. We optimized the homogeneity for the doctor bladed active layer in conjunction with viscosity measurements, examined the dependency of cell characteristics on drying kinetics with best results at slow drying and accomplished differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) with solution-processed samples in the typical annealing temperature range.     

微晶硅锗薄膜作为近红外光吸收层在硅基薄膜太阳电池中的应用

采用射频等离子体增强化学气相沉积技术,制备了具有一定晶化率不同Ge含量的氢化微晶硅锗(μcSi1-xGex:H)薄膜.通过Ⅹ射线荧光谱、拉曼光谱、X射线衍射谱、傅里叶红外谱、吸收系数谱和电导率的测试,表征了μc-Si_(1-x)Ge_x:H的材料微结构随Ge含量的演变.研究表明:提高Ge含量可以增强μc-Si_(1-x)Ge_x:H薄膜的吸收系数.将其应用到硅基薄膜太阳电池的本征层中可以有效提高电池的短路电流密度(J_(sc)).特别是在电池厚度较薄或陷光不充分的情况下,长波响应的提高会更为显著.应用ZnO衬底后,在Ge含量分别为9%和27%时,μc-Si_(1-x)Ge_x:H太阳电池的转换效率均超过了7%.最后,将μc-Si_(1-x)Ge_x:H太阳电池应用在双结叠层太阳电池的底电池中,发现μc-Si_(0.73)Ge_(0.27):H底电池在厚度为800 nm时即可得到比1700 nm厚微晶硅(μc-Si:H)底电池更高的长波响应.以上结果体现μc-Si_(1-x)Ge_x:H太阳电池作为高效近红外光吸收层,在硅基薄膜太阳电池中应用的前景.     

碲化镉薄膜太阳电池中的关键科学问题研究

文章对CdTe薄膜太阳电池中的4个关键科学问题进行了讨论,并对电池器件的性能进行了研究,其中包括高质量硫化镉薄膜、背接触层、CdS/CdTe界面和CdCl2热处理性能的研究.文章作者研究了背电极接触层中Cu掺杂含量对电池性能的影响,通过改变背接触层中Cu的含量,可以改变Cu与Te反应产生的物相成分,从而发现以Cu1.4Te为主导的背接触缓冲层能有效地减少电池I—V曲线中的“翻转”(roll-over)现象,同时能有效地降低背接触势垒.此外,还研究了CdS/CdTe界面的CdCl2热处理反应,发现当热处理温度高于350℃时,CdS与CdTe之间的互扩散开始发生,此温度对应于CdS由立方相转变为六方相;而在550℃热处理后,S和Te互扩散形成的CdSxTe1-x化合物,其x值高达11％.通过优化电池制备工艺,获得了在AMl.5标准光源下高达14.6％的CdTe电池转换效率.     

Nanosecond laser ablation and deposition of silver,copper, zinc and tin

Nanosecond pulsed laser deposition of different metals (Ag, Cu, Sn, Zn) has been studied in high vacuum at a laser wavelength of 355 nm and pulse length of 6 ns. The deposition rate is roughly similar for Sn, Cu and Ag, which have comparable cohesive energies, and much higher for the deposition of Zn which has a low cohesive energy. The deposition rate for all metals is strongly correlated with the total ablation yield, i.e., the total mass ablated per pulse, reported in the literature except for Sn, for which the deposition rate is low, but the total ablation yield is high. This may be explained by the continuous erosion by nanoparticles during deposition of the Sn films which appear to have a much rougher surface than those of the other metals studied in the present work.     

碲化镉薄膜太阳电池中的关键科学问题研究

文章对CdTe薄膜太阳电池中的4个关键科学问题进行了讨论,并对电池器件的性能进行了研究,其中包括高质量硫化镉薄膜、背接触层、CdS/CdTe界面和CdCl2热处理性能的研究。文章作者研究了背电极接触层中Cu掺杂含量对电池性能的影响,通过改变背接触层中Cu的含量,可以改变Cu与Te反应产生的物相成分,从而发现以Cu1.4Te为主导的背接触缓冲层能有效地减少电池I—V 曲线中的“翻转”(roll-over)现象,同时能有效地降低背接触势垒。此外,还研究了CdS/CdTe界面的CdCl2热处理反应,发现当热处理温度高于350℃时,CdS与CdTe之间的互扩散开始发生,此温度对应于CdS由立方相转变为六方相;而在550℃热处理后,S 和Te 互扩散形成的CdSxTe1-x 化合物,其x 值高达11%。通过优化电池制备工艺,获得了在AM1.5标准光源下高达14.6%的CdTe电池转换效率。     

Development of sulphurized SnS thin film solar cells

Thin films of tin sulphide (SnS) have been grown by sulphurization of sputtered tin precursor layers in a closed chamber. The effect of sulphurization temperature (T_s) that varied in the range of 150–450 °C for a fixed sulphurization time of 120 min on SnS film was studied through various characterization techniques. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated the transformation of metallic tin layers into SnS single phase for T_s between 300 °C and 350 °C. The X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that all the grown films had the (111) crystal plane as the preferred orientation and exhibited orthorhombic crystal structure. Raman analysis showed modes at 95 cm⁻¹, 189 cm⁻¹ and 218 cm⁻¹ are related to the A_g mode of SnS. AFM images revealed a granular change in the grain growth with the increase of T_s. The optical energy band gap values were estimated using the transmittance spectra and found to be varied from 1.2 eV to 1.6 eV with T_s. The Hall effect measurements showed that all the films were p-type conducting nature and the layers grown at 350 °C showed a low electrical resistivity of 64 Ω-cm, a net carrier concentration of 2 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻³ and mobility of 41 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. With the use of sprayed Zn_0.76Mg_0.24O as a buffer layer and the sputtered ZnO:Al as window layer, the SnS based thin film solar cell was developed that showed a conversion efficiency of 2.02%.     

Thermally evaporated CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells: Optimization of CdCl2 evaporation treatment on absorber layer

CdCl₂ treatment is crucial in the fabrication of highly efficient CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells. This study reports a comprehensive analysis of thermal evaporated CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells when the CdTe absorber layer is CdCl₂ annealed at temperatures from 340 to 440 °C. Samples were characterized for structural, optical, morphological and electrical properties. The films annealed at 400 °C showed better crystallinity with a cubic zinc blende structure having large grains. Higher refractive index, optical conductivity, and absorption coefficient were recorded for the CdTe films annealed at 400 °C with CdCl₂. Optimum photoactive properties for CdS/CdTe thin-film solar cells were also obtained when samples were annealed at 400 °C for 20 min with CdCl₂, and the best device exhibited V_OC of 668.4 mV, J_SC of 13.6 mA cm⁻², FF of 53.9% and an efficiency of 4.9%.     

Multistep deposition of Cu2Si(S,Se)3 and Cu2ZnSiSe4high band gap absorber materials for thin film solar cells

Cu₂ZnSi(S,Se)₄ and Cu₂Si(S,Se)₃ are potential materials to obtain cost effective high band gap absorbers for tandem thin film solar cell devices. A method to synthesize Cu₂SiS₃, Cu₂SiSe₃and Cu₂ZnSiSe₄thin film absorbers is proposed. This method is based on a multistep process, using sequential deposition and annealing processes. X‐ray diffraction analysis performed on the final thin films have confirmed the presence of the Cu₂Si(S,Se)₃ and Cu₂ZnSiSe₄phases. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed the formation of polycrystalline layers with grains size up to 1 µm. The band gap of the ternary Cu₂SiSe₃ and Cu₂SiS₃, and quaternary Cu₂ZnSiSe₄ based thin films as determined from optical and photoluminescence measurements are found to be close to their theoretical values. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The insert of zinc oxide thin film in indium tin oxide anode for organic electroluminescence devices

Zinc oxide films were prepared by rf magnetron sputtering on glass substrates with designed ZnO target using high-purity of zinc oxide (99.99%) powder. Systematic study on dependence of target-to-substrate distance (D_ts) on structural, electrical and optical properties of the as-grown ZnO films was mainly investigated in this work. XRD showed that highly preferred ZnO crystal in the [0 0 1] direction was grown in parallel to the substrate, while the D_ts did not effect to the peak position of XRD. With decreasing D_ts, the growth rate is increased while the electrical resistivity as well as crystal size in the ZnO films was decreased. The XPS data showed that the O/Zn ratio in ZnO films was increased with increasing D_ts in the films. The as-grown ZnO films have an average transmittance of above 85% at the visible region. The optical band gap of the as-grown ZnO films was changed from 3.18 to 3.36 eV with D_ts. With decreasing D_ts, the electrical resistivity was decreased, while the growth rate was increased.A bilayer is used as an anode electrode for organic electroluminescent devices. The bilayer consists of an ultrathin ZnO layer adjacent to a hole-transporting layer and an Indium tin oxide (ITO) outerlayer. We tried to bring low the barrier between the devices as deposited ZnO films on ITO substrates. We fabricated the organic EL structure consisted of Al as a cathode, Al₂O₃ as an electro transport layer, Alq₃ as a luminously layer, TPD as a hole transport layer and ZnO (1 nm)/ITO (150 nm) as an anode. The result of this experiment was not good compared with the case of using ITO, nevertheless, at this structure we obtained the lowest turn-on voltage as the value of 19 V and the good brightness (6200 cd/m²) of the emission light from the devices. Then the quantum efficiency was to be 1.0%.     

Study of a ternary blend system for bulk heterojunction thin film solar cells

In this research, we report a bulk heterojunction(BHJ) solar cell consisting of a ternary blend system. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) P3 HT is used as a donor and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester(PCBM) plays the role of acceptor whereas vanadyl 2,9,16,23-tetraphenoxy-29 H, 31H-phthalocyanine(VOPc Ph O) is selected as an ambipolar transport material. The materials are selected and assembled in such a fashion that the generated charge carriers could efficiently be transported rightwards within the blend. The organic BHJ solar cells consist of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ternary BHJ blend/Al structure. The power conversion efficiencies of the ITO/ PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM/Al and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM:VOPcPhO/Al solar cells are found to be 2.3% and 3.4%, respectively.     

The high deposition of microcrystalline silicon thin film by very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition and the fabrication of solar cells

This paper reports that the intrinsic microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) films are prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from silane/hydrogen mixtures at 200\du\ with the aim to increase the deposition rate. An increase of the deposition rate to 0.88\,nm/s is obtained by using a plasma excitation frequency of 75\,MHz. This increase is obtained by the combination of a higher deposition pressure, an increased silane concentration, and higher discharge powers. In addition, the transient behaviour, which can decrease the film crystallinity, could be prevented by filling the background gas with Hchemical vapour deposition, plasma deposition, solar cells, crystallinityProgram supported by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No 2006CB202601), and Basic Research Project of Henan Province in China (Grant No 072300410140).7280N, 7830G, 8115HThis paper reports that the intrinsic microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) films are prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from silane/hydrogen mixtures at 200\du\ with the aim to increase the deposition rate. An increase of the deposition rate to 0.88\,nm/s is obtained by using a plasma excitation frequency of 75\,MHz. This increase is obtained by the combination of a higher deposition pressure, an increased silane concentration, and higher discharge powers. In addition, the transient behaviour, which can decrease the film crystallinity, could be prevented by filling the background gas with Hchemical vapour deposition, plasma deposition, solar cells, crystallinityProgram supported by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No 2006CB202601), and Basic Research Project of Henan Province in China (Grant No 072300410140).7280N, 7830G, 8115HThis paper reports that the intrinsic microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) films are prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from silane/hydrogen mixtures at 200\du\ with the aim to increase the deposition rate. An increase of the deposition rate to 0.88\,nm/s is obtained by using a plasma excitation frequency of 75\,MHz. This increase is obtained by the combination of a higher deposition pressure, an increased silane concentration, and higher discharge powers. In addition, the transient behaviour, which can decrease the film crystallinity, could be prevented by filling the background gas with Hchemical vapour deposition, plasma deposition, solar cells, crystallinityProgram supported by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No 2006CB202601), and Basic Research Project of Henan Province in China (Grant No 072300410140).7280N, 7830G, 8115HThis paper reports that the intrinsic microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) films are prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from silane/hydrogen mixtures at 200\du\ with the aim to increase the deposition rate. An increase of the deposition rate to 0.88\,nm/s is obtained by using a plasma excitation frequency of 75\,MHz. This increase is obtained by the combination of a higher deposition pressure, an increased silane concentration, and higher discharge powers. In addition, the transient behaviour, which can decrease the film crystallinity, could be prevented by filling the background gas with Hchemical vapour deposition, plasma deposition, solar cells, crystallinityProgram supported by the State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No 2006CB202601), and Basic Research Project of Henan Province in China (Grant No 072300410140).7280N, 7830G, 8115HThis paper reports that the intrinsic microcrystalline silicon ($\mu $c-Si:H) films are prepared with plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from silane/hydrogen mixtures at 200\du\ with the aim to increase the deposition rate. An increase of the deposition rate to 0.88\,nm/s is obtained by using a plasma excitation frequency of 75\,MHz. This increase is obtained by the combination of a higher deposition pressure, an increased silane concentration, and higher discharge powers. In addition, the transient behaviour, which can decrease the film crystallinity, could be prevented by filling the background gas with H$_{2}$ prior to plasma ignition, and selecting proper discharging time after silane flow injection. Material prepared under these conditions at a deposition rate of 0.78\,nm/s maintains higher crystallinity and fine electronic properties. By H-plasma treatment before i-layer deposition, single junction $\mu $c-Si:H solar cells with 5.5{\%} efficiency are fabricated.