Improved light trapping effect for thin-film silicon solar cells fabricated on double-textured white glass substrate

Light trapping effect using rough surface transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is one of the best ways to achieve high efficiency thin-film silicon solar cells. Several types of rough ZnO film fabricated by metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique onto the glass, which are etched by reactive ion etching, have been proposed so far as promising TCO substrates. In this paper, newly developed ZnO substrate with extremely high light scattering property comparing with typical pyramidal texture one was developed. By applying this newly developed ZnO substrate to the solar cell, higher short circuit current of about 2% has been achieved comparing with typical pyramidal texture one without sacrificing other parameters. This result showed that the newly developed substrate is suitable as a front TCO substrate for high performance thin-film silicon solar cell. (author)