Characteristics of Ti0.97Co0.03O2:Sb0.01 dilute magnetic semiconducting thin films deposited at 500 °C by pulsed laser deposition

Epitaxial Ti_0.97Co_0.03O₂:Sb_0.01(TCO:Sb) films were deposited on R-Al₂O₃ (1 1 0 2) substrates at 500 °C in various deposition pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The solubility of cobalt within the films increases with decreasing deposition pressure at a deposition temperature of 500 °C. The TCO:Sb films deposited at 5×10⁻⁶ Torr exhibit a p-type anomalous Hall effect having a hole concentration of 6.1×10²²/cm³ at 300 K. On the other hand, films deposited at 4×10⁻⁴ Torr exhibits an n-type anomalous Hall effect having an electron concentration of about 1.1×10²¹/cm³. p- or n-type DMS characteristics depends on the change of the structure of TCO:Sb films and the solubility of Co is possible by controlling the deposition pressure.     

Development of transparent conducting copper and iron co-doped cadmium oxide films: Effect of annealing in hydrogen atmosphere

Hydrogenated (annealed in hydrogen atmosphere) cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films co-doped with iron (Fe) of different levels and fixed (2.5%) copper (Cu) amount were deposited on glass and silicon wafer substrates by thermal evaporation. The films were characterised with X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, optical spectroscopy, and dc-electrical measurements. The obtained results show important improvements in the conductivity, mobility, and carrier concentration compared to un-doped and non-hydrogenated CdO. Hydrogenated CdO doped with 2.5% Cu and 1.3% Fe improved the conductivity (2293.6 S/cm) by ~46 times, mobility (78.31 cm²/V s) by ~11 times, and carrier concentration (1.82×10²⁰ cm⁻³) by ~4 times. This suggests the possibility of using CdO:Cu:Fe–H as transparent-conducting-oxide and dilute-magnetic-semiconductor field of applications.     

Efficiency loss prevention in monolithically integrated thin film solar cells by improved front contact

For thin film solar cells, there is a large gap between the record efficiencies and panel power output. It was found that for a “typical industrial” CIGS cell efficiency of 15.5%, the efficiency drops to 11.7% when it is operating under the circumstances of a monolithically integrated solar panel. Part of this gap is due to limited conductivity and transmittance of the front contact. By application of a metallic grid, the conductivity can be improved by over two order of magnitude at a transmittance loss of only a few percent as was shown experimentally. In addition, modeling was used to quantify the impact of such approach on the power output of monolithically integrated solar panels. This model includes optical and resistive losses, as well as related losses caused by the inhomogeneity of the operating voltage over the surface. Both power output and the different types of losses are mapped out for various cell configurations. Optimization of transparent conductive oxide resistance, cell length, finger width, and finger spacing of grids was performed and led to an efficiency improvement from 11.7% to 13.8% when the front contact is upgraded with a metallic grid consisting of 20 µm wide parallel fingers positioned perpendicular to the interconnect. Further optimization for a wide variety of cell and grid configurations show that for a technically more feasible size of 100 µm wide fingers, the calculated efficiency is still 13.5%. Finally, the power output is mapped out for a large number of configurations as to create an overview and insight in the interdependencies of cell configuration and finger dimensions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microstructure evolution of room-temperature-sputtered ITO films suitable for silicon heterojunction solar cells

Thickness influence on structural, optical and electrical properties of sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) with thickness ranging from 60 up to 430 nm films has been studied. At the increase of the film thickness crystallinity degree and grain size increased, whereas tensile structural distortion as well as resistivity decreased. It was observed that a microstructure evolution takes place: the initial amorphous layer evolved in polycrystalline phase, with a grain–subgrain surface morphology. Carrier concentration increased at the increase of the film thickness and a general relationship between electrical characteristics and structural distortion has been found. In thinner films larger tensile distortion allowed to include larger amount of interstitial O and/or Sn atoms in the lattice. An appreciable impact of the thickness was also observed on electro-optical properties in terms of changes in energy gap, resistivity and optical absorption. Silicon heterojunction solar cells have been produced and J_sc as high as 33.0 mA/cm² has been obtained.     

Improving carriers mobility in copper and iron-codoped CdO

Thin films of Fe and Cu-codoped CdO (CdO:Cu:Fe) with different Fe content and fixed Cu content were deposited in a high vacuum on glass and Si wafer substrates. These films were studied by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XED), optical spectroscopy, and dc-electrical measurements. The structural results show enhancement of film [1 1 1] orientation with Fe doping especially with 1.3%Fe film. Also, light doping with Fe improves the dc-conduction parameters of the CdO:Cu:Fe films so that the utmost enhancement of mobility (90.5 cm²/Vs) and conductivity (1470.6 S/cm) was found with 1.3 wt% Fe doping level. It was found that the variation in the bandgap is related to the variation in electron concentration that caused by Fe doping. For low Fe ion concentration (<1.3 wt% ), the bandgap varies according to the Moss–Burstein model.     

Study on the electrical and optical properties of Ag/Al-doped ZnO coatings deposited by electron beam evaporation

A layer of silver was deposited onto the surface of glass substrates, coated with AZO (Al-doped ZnO), to form Ag/AZO film structures, using e-beam evaporation techniques. The electrical and optical properties of AZO, Ag and Ag/AZO film structures were studied. The deposition of Ag layer on the surface of AZO films resulted in lowering the effective electrical resistivity with a slight reduction of their optical transmittance. Ag (11 nm)/AZO (25 nm) film structure, with an accuracy of ±0.5 nm for the thickness shows a sheet resistance as low as 5.6 ± 0.5 Ω/sq and a transmittance of about 66 ± 2%. A coating consisting of AZO (25 nm)/Ag (11 nm)/AZO (25 nm) trilayer structure, exhibits a resistance of 7.7 ± 0.5 Ω/sq and a high transmittance of 85 ± 2%. The coatings have satisfactory properties of low resistance, high transmittance and highest figure of merit for application in optoelectronics devices including flat displays, thin films transistors and solar cells as transparent conductive electrodes.     

降低业务平台TCO的解决方案

从介绍业务平台的现状和总体拥有成本（TCO）的组成入手,分析了现网TCO,给出了ZTEiVAS平台解决方案,最后对ZTEiVAS平台与传统业务平台进行了对比。     

Preparation of Ga-doped ZnO films by pulsed dc magnetron sputtering with cylindrical rotating target for thin film solar cell applications

Applicability of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) films for thin film solar cells (TFSCs) was investigated by preparing GZO films via pulsed dc magnetron sputtering (PDMS) with rotating target. The GZO films showed improved crystallinity and increasing degree of Ga doping with increasing thickness to a limit of 1000 nm. The films also fulfilled requirements for the transparent electrodes of TFSCs in terms of electrical and optical properties. Moreover, the films exhibited good texturing potential based on etching studies with diluted HCl, which yielded an improved light trapping capability without significant degradation in electrical propreties. It is therefore suggested that the surface-textured GZO films prepared via PDMS and etching are promising candidates for indium-free transparent electrodes for TFSCs.     

双面HIT太阳电池TCO与非晶硅界面势垒的模拟优化

采用美国滨州大学研发的AMPS-1D软件,模拟了TCO与非晶硅界面势垒对TCO/a-Si:H(p+)/a-Si:H(i)/c-Si(n) /a-Si:H(i) /a-Si:H(n+) /TCO双面HIT异质结太阳电池光伏特性的影响。结果表明太阳电池的TCO/p+前接触界面势垒（对于电子）越高,越易形成欧姆接触,且电池的短波响应增强,使电池性能变好。模拟还发现,n+ /TCO背接触界面势垒（对于电子）越低,电池性能越好。若背场重掺杂,在背接触势垒小于等于0.5ev时,电池的转换效率不会受到背接触势垒的影响;若背场低掺杂,在背接触势垒很小的情况下,也能达到与重掺杂相同的转换效率。     

Influence of negative ion resputtering on Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by mid-frequency magnetron sputtering

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films were deposited on glass substrates by mid-frequency magnetron sputtering with a ceramic ZnO:Al₂O₃ (98 wt%:2 wt%) target. The origin of the high resistivity of the films at the substrate position facing the erosion area of the target was investigated. The results indicate a preferential resputtering of Zn atoms caused by the negative ions, which leads to an increase of the oxygen/metal ratio in the films. Then more Al oxides form and result in the decrease of Al_Zn (the main donor in the films) concentration in the films. Thus the free carrier concentration decreases badly. This is the main mechanism responsible for the high resistivity.