Carrier transport mechanism in indium tin oxide (ITO)/silicon heterojunctions: effect of chlorine

Transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO)-based photovoltaic junctions have shown complexity in the transport phenomena at the interface. The present study is an attempt to understand the effect of chlorine at the interface between indium tin oxide (ITO) and Si. The ITO/Si junctions have been prepared by depositing transparent and conducting tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films on as-cleaned and chlorine-treated single-crystal p-type and n-type silicon substrates using the reactive electron-beam evaporation technique. ITO/n-Si junctions have shown photovoltaic properties. The photoconversion efficiency of these junctions is observed to increase from 2.3% to 5.5% under chlorine treatment. The transport mechanism across these junctions has been studied by current–voltage (I–V , both dark and illuminated) and capacitance–voltage (C–V ) characterisation techniques. The carrier transport mechanism is found to be dominated by recombination at the depletion region for the junctions prepared with chlorine treatment, whereas for the other junctions, the thermionic process seems to be prominent. The unrealistic barrier heights observed in these junctions by the C–V technique confirms the complex nature of the interface. PACS 73.50.-h; 73.61.-r; 73.50.Pz; 73.40.-c