A novel blanket annealing process to achieve highly transparent and conducting Al doped ZnO thin films: Its mechanism and application in perovskite solar cells

Ghosh, Shuvaraj; Mallick, Arindam; Dou, Benjia; van Hest, Maikel F. A. M.; Garner, Sean M.; Basak, Durga

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2018.09.017

Title: A novel blanket annealing process to achieve highly transparent and conducting Al doped ZnO thin films: Its mechanism and application in perovskite solar cells

Journal Article · Wed Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Solar Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.09.017· OSTI ID:1477949

Ghosh, Shuvaraj ^[1]; Mallick, Arindam ^[1]; Dou, Benjia ^[2]; van Hest, Maikel F. A. M. ^[3]; Garner, Sean M. ^[4];

^[1]

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata (India)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Corning Research & Development Corp., Corning, NY (United States)

Achievement of high conductivity by doping an oxide thin film while maintaining its high visible transparency remains a challenge in the field of materials science and technology. Here, we demonstrate a simple and novel technique to control compensating defects in Al doped ZnO (AZO) thin films involving a post-growth annealing process with Zn blanket. We also provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of achieving high conductivity. As low as 8.8 ..omega../sq sheet resistance (resistivity 3.1 x 10^-4Ω cm) with 90% visible transmission value and wherefrom a figure of merit (FOM) value of 6.5 x 10^-2 Ω^-1 for a RF sputtered 350 nm AZO thin film can be achieved. Such very low sheet resistance has been attributed to a decrease in the number of compensating defects and lesser out diffusion of Zn in AZO. Application of the developed AZO film as conducting substrate has successfully been tested by fabricating perovskite solar cells on flexible Corning(R) Willow(R) Glass substrate. The present findings open up the possibility of enough high quality industrial-scale production of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) bearing crucial significance from the perspective of transparent electrodes for solar cells.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1477949

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1636036

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-72463

Journal Information:: Solar Energy, Vol. 174, Issue C; ISSN 0038-092X

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 26 works

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