Study of boron-doped zinc oxide film serving as front contact with high haze used in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells

Abstract

Boron-doped zinc oxide (BZO) deposited by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method is used as front contact in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells. Asahi-U type SnO2:F is used as the reference front contact for comparison. When the a-Si:H intrinsic layer thickness is changing changed, the performance of a-Si:H solar cells shows different evolution trends. These different results can be understood from the shadowing effect during the growth of intrinsic silicon material, which is caused by the as-grown pyramid texture in the surface of BZO substrate. In order to reduce this negative effect on the performance of solar cells, the deposition temperature of the a-Si:H intrinsic layer is optimized, to thereby improving improve the open circuit voltage and fill factor. The conversion efficiency of a-Si:H solar cells can reach up to 7.34%, with the thickness of absorber layer being only around 200 nm. and only Al back reflector is being used.