Properties of indium tin oxide on black silicon after post-deposition annealing for heterojunction solar cells

• Main Authors: Auwal Abdulkadir, Azlan Abdul Aziz, Mohd Zamir Pakhuruddin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-12-01
• Series: Results in Physics
• Subjects: ITO; Black silicon; Annealing; Heterojunction; Solar cell
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211379720318726

Indium tin oxide (ITO) serves as an excellent anti-reflective coating (ARC) and transparent contact in optoelectronic devices including in crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells. To enhance broadband light absorption in the c-Si solar cells, black silicon (b-Si) surfaces can be used to reduce light reflection within 300–1100 nm wavelength region. In this work, properties of 300 nm-thick ITO on b-Si after post-deposition annealing with different temperatures (200–500 °C) are investigated for application in heterojunction solar cells. Annealing the ITO at 400 °C produces the highest crystalline quality, moderate surface reflection and optimum electrical properties. For electrical characterization, ITO/b-Si/NiO and ITO/c-Si/NiO reference solar cells are illuminated with white light LED-based solar simulator at illumination of 47 mW/cm2 and temperature of 25 °C. The ITO/b-Si/NiO solar cells demonstrate higher short-circuit current density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) when compared to the reference solar cells.