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Effects of deposition temperature and hydrogen flow rate on the properties of the Al-doped ZnO thin films and amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells

Applied Physics A volume 112, pages 877–883 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

A compound of 98 mol% ZnO and 1 mol% Al2O3 (AZO, Al:Zn = 98:2) was sintered at 1350 °C as a target and the AZO thin films were deposited on glass using a radio frequency magnetron sputtering system. The effects of deposition temperature (from room temperature to ∼300 °C) on the optical transmission spectrum of the AZO thin films were studied. The Burstein–Moss shift was observed and used to prove that defects in the AZO thin films decreased with increasing deposition temperature. The variations in the optical band gap (E g) values of the AZO thin films were evaluated from plots of (αhv)2=c(hν−E g), revealing that the measured E g values increased with increasing deposition temperature. The effects of the H2 flow rate during deposition (0 %∼11.76 %, deposition temperature of 200 °C) on the crystallization, morphology, resistivity, carrier concentration, carrier mobility, and optical transmission spectrum of the AZO thin films were measured. The chemical structures of the Ar-deposited and 2 % H2-flow rate-deposited AZO thin films (both were deposited at 200 °C) were investigated by XPS to clarify the mechanism of improvement in resistivity. The prepared AZO thin films were also used as transparent electrodes to fabricate amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells, and their properties were also measured.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from NSC 99-2221-E-390-013-MY2 and NSC 101-2221-E-005-065, and experimental support from Mr. In-Ching Chen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, No. 250, Guoguang Rd., South Dist., Taichung City, 402, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chia-Cheng Huang & Fang-Hsing Wang

  2. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National University of Kaohsiung, No. 700, Kaohsiung University Rd., Nan-Tzu, Kaohsiung, 811, Taiwan, R.O.C.

    Chen-Fu Yang

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  1. Chia-Cheng Huang
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  2. Fang-Hsing Wang
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  3. Chen-Fu Yang
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Correspondence to Chen-Fu Yang.

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Huang, CC., Wang, FH. & Yang, CF. Effects of deposition temperature and hydrogen flow rate on the properties of the Al-doped ZnO thin films and amorphous silicon thin-film solar cells. Appl. Phys. A 112, 877–883 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7270-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7270-2

Keywords

  • Solar Cell
  • Carrier Concentration
  • Deposition Temperature
  • Optical Transmission Spectrum
  • Short Wavelength Region