Open AccessSingle cuprous oxide films synthesized by radical oxidation at low temperature for PV application
Author(s) -
Zhigang Zang,
Atsushi Nakamura,
Jiro Temmyo
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.21.011448
Subject(s) - materials science , electrical resistivity and conductivity , plasma , substrate (aquarium) , analytical chemistry (journal) , thin film , band gap , oxide , sapphire , diffraction , nitrogen , optics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , chemistry , laser , electrical engineering , oceanography , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , geology , metallurgy , engineering
Cuprous oxide (Cu(2)O) films synthesis by radical oxidation with nitrogen (N(2)) plasma treatment and different RF power at low temperature (500 °C) are studied in this paper. X-ray diffraction measurements show that synthesized Cu(2)O thin films grow on c-sapphire substrate with preferred (111) orientation. With nitrogen (N(2)) plasma treatment, the optical bandgap energy is increased from 1.69 to 2.42 eV, when N(2) plasma treatment time is increased from 0 min to 40 min. Although the hole density is increased from 10(14) to 10(15) cm(-3) and the resistivity is decreased from 1879 to 780 Ω cm after N(2) plasma treatment, the performance of Cu(2)O films is poorer compared to that of Cu(2)O using RF power of 0. The fabricated ZnO/Cu(2)O solar cells based on Cu(2)O films with RF power of 0 W show a good rectifying behavior with a efficiency of 0.02%, an open-circuit voltage of 0.1 V, and a fill factor of 24%.