Characterization of experimental textured ZnO:Al films for thin film solar cell applications and comparison with commercial and plasmonic alternatives

We present the comprehensive characterization of several experimental ZnO:Al films for thin film solar cell applications. The morphological and optical properties of these films are determined using traditional and new, experimental measurement techniques and results are compared to those of the commercial Asahi U-type TCO as well as samples of planar TCOs coated in silver nanoparticles. Results show that the textured ZnO:Al films provide far superior scattering to the commercial alternatives studied. Nanoparticle coated planar TCOs also show scattering enhancement with results suggesting that nanoparticle layers could be tuned to predominantly scatter light within a chosen wavelength range.