Excellent properties of Ga‐doped ZnO film as an alternative transparent electrode for thin‐film solar cells

• Published in: International journal of applied glass science Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 133 - 139
• Main Authors: Peng, Shou, Wang, Wei, Yao, Tingting, Guan, Min, Gan, Zhiping, Chu, Jingyuan, Gai, Linlin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Westerville Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2023
• Subjects: Aluminum; annealing; Cadmium tellurides; Carrier density; coatings; conductivity; Copper indium gallium selenides; Electric contacts; Electrical properties; Electrodes; Electron mobility; Figure of merit; glass manufacturing; Optical properties; Photoelectricity; Photovoltaic cells; Solar cells; Substrates; Thin films; transmission; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2041-1286; 2041-1294
• DOI: 10.1111/ijag.16585

Optical and electrical properties of transparent electrode are directly related to the photoelectric conversion efficiency of thin‐film solar cells. For this reason, Ga and Al‐doped ZnO (GZO and AZO) transparent conducting films were fabricated on float glass through the magnetic sputtering technique. Compared with AZO films, GZO films show a higher figure of merit (FoM) value indicating their outstanding optical and electrical properties. The smaller difference of ionic radius between Ga3+ and Zn2+ than Al3+ and Zn2+ contributes to high carrier concentration and electron mobility of GZO films. In addition, it has been shown that GZO films can be stable at high substrate temperatures. After being annealed at 550°C in N2 atmosphere, the FoM value of GZO films is twice as much as that of FTO films, indicating that GZO can be applied as the front contact material not only in CIGS thin‐film solar cells, but also in CdTe thin‐film solar cells.