The impact of ultra-thin titania interlayers on open circuit voltage and carrier lifetime in thin film solar cells

Moerman, David; Kim, Hyungchul; Colbert, Adam E.; Graham, Samuel; Ginger, David S.

doi:10.1063/1.4944049

Title: The impact of ultra-thin titania interlayers on open circuit voltage and carrier lifetime in thin film solar cells

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4944049· OSTI ID:1468780

^[1]; Kim, Hyungchul ^[2]; Colbert, Adam E. ^[1]; Graham, Samuel ^[2]; Ginger, David S. ^[1]

Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States). School of Mechanical Engineering

We study the effects of modifying indium tin oxide electrodes with ultrathin titania (TiO₂) layers grown via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD). We find an optimal thickness of PE-ALD-grown titania by tracking performance, which initially increases, peaks, and eventually decreases with increasing TiO₂ thickness. We use scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) to measure both the local work function and its distribution as a function of TiO₂ thickness. We find that the variance in contact potential difference across the surface of the film is related to either the amorphous or anatase TiO₂ form. Finally, we use local SKPM recombination rate experiments, supported by bulk transient photovoltage and charge extraction measurements. Here, we show that the optimum TiO₂ thickness is the one for which the carrier lifetime is the longest and the charge carrier density is the highest, when the TiO₂ is amorphous, in agreement with the device measurements.

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Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0004946

OSTI ID:: 1468780

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1241567

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 11; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 9 works

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