Laser texturing of ZnO:Al front contact for efficiency enhancement in thin-film silicon solar cells

Author

Canteli, D. ; Fernandez, S. ; Santos, Jessye Dos ; Gonzalez, Jesus Pablo ; Molpeceres, C. ; Torres, I. ; Carabe, J. ; Gandia, J.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Energias Renovables, CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain

fYear

2013

fDate

12-16 May 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

This work studies the capability of using a nanosecond laser source to texture ZnO:Al (AZO) thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering onto a Corning glass 7059. A Q-switched laser working at 355 nm is used to pattern the surface of the AZO thin film by performing an array of parallel and perpendicular laser lines. This method leads to the creation of a micro-texturing similar to a grating on the AZO surface. Subsequently, a-Si p-i-n solar cells were deposited onto substrates with different AZO morphologies. Current-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the resulting devices were measured under 100-mW/cm² AM1.5G illumination conditions at 25 °C.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; aluminium; amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; laser materials processing; optical losses; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; surface texture; thin film devices; transparency; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; SiO₂; ZnO:Al-Si; amorphous silicon p-i-n solar cells; device absorber; device surface; efficiency enhancement; efficiency losses; front contact; glass substrate; laser texturing; light reflection; optical losses; thin-film silicon solar cells; transparent conductive oxide; Films; Lasers; Optical surface waves; Photovoltaic cells; Surface cleaning; Surface morphology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe (CLEO EUROPE/IQEC), 2013 Conference on and International Quantum Electronics Conference

Conference_Location

Munich

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-0593-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2013.6800990

Filename

6800990