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Influence of ZnSnO x barrier layer on the texturing of ZnO:Al layers for light management in flexible thin‐film silicon solar cells
Author(s) -
Wilken Karen,
Finger Friedhelm,
Smirnov Vladimir
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201600884
Subject(s) - materials science , polyethylene terephthalate , layer (electronics) , optoelectronics , silicon , etching (microfabrication) , substrate (aquarium) , barrier layer , diffusion barrier , photovoltaic system , solar cell , chemical engineering , zinc , composite material , metallurgy , ecology , oceanography , engineering , biology , geology
Transparent polymer films such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) present a cost efficient substrate material for flexible solar cells. In addition to certain process temperature limitations, these materials are permeable to moisture and/or oxygen, and additional barrier layers are required to prevent the diffusion of contaminating atoms into the photovoltaic device. In this study, the influence of a ZnSnO x barrier layer deposited on PET substrates on the properties of the subsequently grown low temperature (<140 °C) aluminum‐doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) layers is examined. We investigate the electrical and optical properties, as well as surface topography of ZnO:Al layers grown on PET and PET/ZnSnO x substrates before and after wet‐chemical etching treatment, needed to maintain the advanced light management schemes in solar cells. A‐Si:H solar cells show an improvement in all photovoltaic parameters when ZnSnO x barrier layers are applied on PET substrates, leading to a remarkable increase in efficiency from 4.8 to 6.9%.