Diffused transmission and texture-induced defect with transparent conducting oxide front electrode of amorphous silicon solar cell

Highly textured transparent conducting front electrode (TFE) can enhance light trapping; however, we observed an improved performance of a solar cell by nanometer level modification of surface texture. A 40 nm thick aluminum doped zinc oxide was sputter deposited at an oblique flux on the textured fluorine doped tin oxide TFE, and a TFE double layer was used for the front electrode of solar cells. The cells fabricated on these modified TFEs exhibited an increased open circuit voltage, enhancement in short circuit current density and an increase in fill factor that reached up to 74% because of reduced series resistance of the cell. The surface texture of the TFE was modified with various angular fluxes of the zinc oxide sputter particle, which shows lower texture-induced-surface defect, higher work function. These are thought to have helped in improving the performance of the thin-film solar cells. However, at a near normal angular flux of the zinc oxide sputter particle, light trapping was observed to have reduced significantly, leading to a significant reduction in current density of the cell. (paper)