Low cost CBD ZnS antireflection coating on large area commercial mono-crystalline silicon solar cells

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 230; no. 1; pp. 364 - 370
• Main Authors: Gangopadhyay, U, Kim, Kyunghae, Mangalaraj, D, Yi, Junsin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 31.05.2004; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Antireflection coating; Chemical bath deposition; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Physics; Silicon solar cell; Zinc sulfide; Zinc sulfide; 72.40+W; Silicon solar cell; 42.79.W; Chemical bath deposition; 71.20.Nr; Antireflection coating; Silicon solar cells; Zinc sulfides; Inorganic compounds; Semiconductor materials; 42,79.W; Refractive index; Transition element compounds; Deposition rate; 72.40+W Zinc sulfide; Optimization; Energy gap; Antireflection coatings
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.02.059

Zinc sulfide is a wide band gap semiconductor with high refractive index and hence a promising material for antireflection coating over commercial silicon solar cells. In the present work, attempts have been made to improve the rate of deposition, uniformity of deposited film, stoichiometry, refractive index and the percentage of reflection, respectively, by proper optimization of molar percentage of different CBD ZnS bath chemical constituents and deposition conditions. High values of the rate of film deposition (19.6 Å), film uniformity (S.D.<1.8) and refractive index (2.35) along with a low percentage of average reflection (0.655) are achieved with proper optimization of ZnS bath. We have successfully fabricated 13.8% efficient large area ( 103 mm×103 mm) mono-crystalline silicon solar cells with CBD ZnS antireflection coating.