Indium tin oxide-free transparent and conductive electrode based on SnO{sub x} | Ag | SnO{sub x} for organic solar cells

Journal Article · Mon Jul 14 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4886225· OSTI ID:22308708

Bou, A. ^[1]; Barakel, D.; Thierry, F. ^[2]; Sangar, A. ^[3]; Thoulon, P. -Y.; Ricci, M. ^[1]

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1. CROSSLUX, Immeuble CCE, Avenue Georges Vacher, ZI Rousset Peynier, 13106 Rousset Cedex (France)
2. Institut Matériaux Microélectronique Nanosciences de Provence-IM2NP, Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, UMR 7334, Domaine Universitaire de Saint-Jérôme, Service 231, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20 (France)
3. Institut Matériaux Microélectronique Nanosciences de Provence-IM2NP, Université de Toulon, CNRS, UMR 7334, Bâtiment R, BP 132, 83957 La Garde Cedex (France)

A SnO{sub x} | Ag | SnO{sub x} multilayer deposited by E-beam evaporation is proposed as transparent anode for a (poly-3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) bulk heterojunction based Organic Solar Cell (OSC). Such multilayers are studied and manufactured with the objective to give to the electrode its best conductivity and transparency in the visible spectral range. A transfer matrix method numerical optimization of the thicknesses of each layer of the electrode is developed to limit the number of test samples which would have been manufactured whether an empirical method was chosen. Optical characterization of the deposited SnO{sub x} and Ag thin films is performed to determine the dispersion of the complex refractive indices which are used as input parameters in the model. A satisfying agreement between numerical and experimental optical properties is found. The bare tri-layer electrodes show low sheet resistance (as low as 6.7 Ω/□) and the whole Glass | SnO{sub x} | Ag | SnO{sub x} structure presents a mean transparency on 400–700 nm spectral band as high as 67%. The multilayer is then numerically studied as anode for a P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction based OSC. Intrinsic absorption inside the sole active layer is calculated giving the possibility to perform optical optimization on the intrinsic absorption efficiency inside the active area by considering the media embedding the electrodes. An additional study using the morphology of the silver inserted between both oxide layers as input data is performed with a finite difference time domain 3D-method to improve the accordance between optical measurements and numerical results.

• OSTI ID: 22308708
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABSORPTION
ANODES
DISPERSIONS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON BEAMS
EVAPORATION
GLASS
HETEROJUNCTIONS
INDIUM OXIDES
LAYERS
OPACITY
OPTIMIZATION
ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SILVER
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TIN ADDITIONS
TIN OXIDES
TRANSFER MATRIX METHOD