Resistive Intrinsic ZnO Films Deposited by Ultrafast Spatial ALD for PV Applications

Author

Nandakumar, Naomi ; Dielissen, Bas ; Garcia-Alonso, Diana ; Zhe Liu ; Gortzen, Roger ; Erwin Kessels, Wilhelmus M. M. ; Aberle, Armin G. ; Hoex, Bram

Author_Institution

Solar Energy Res. Inst. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Volume

5

Issue

5

fYear

2015

Firstpage

1462

Lastpage

1469

Abstract

Spatial atomic layer deposition (ALD) of intrinsic zinc oxide (i-ZnO) films is scaled up from the laboratory to the industrial level, and the film properties are investigated in detail. A high growth rate of 35 nm/min is achieved. The deposited films are transparent and have an unusually high resistivity of about 100 Ω · cm. This is attributed to the extremely short precursor exposure and purge duration of spatial ALD (~8 ms), as compared with temporal ALD (~1-10 s). The growth of highly crystalline and nearly stoichiometric i-ZnO films is achieved. This makes these i-ZnO layers ideal for applications as insulating window layers in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; atomic layer deposition; copper compounds; electrical resistivity; gallium compounds; indium compounds; semiconductor growth; semiconductor thin films; solar cells; stoichiometry; ternary semiconductors; wide band gap semiconductors; zinc compounds; ALD; Cu(InGa)Se₂; PV applications; ZnO; insulating window layers; intrinsic zinc oxide films; resistive intrinsic ZnO films; resistivity; short precursor exposure; solar cells; spatial atomic layer deposition; stoichiometric i-ZnO films; ultrafast spatial ALD; Conductivity; II-VI semiconductor materials; Inductors; Substrates; Temperature; Temperature measurement; Zinc oxide; Atomic layer deposition (ALD); Cu(In; Ga)Se2 (CIGS); photovoltaics; solar cells; spatial; thin films; transparent conductive oxides; zinc oxide;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photovoltaics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

2156-3381

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JPHOTOV.2015.2438644

Filename

7137621