Development of novel Al doped zinc oxide film and its application to solar cells

We have developed novel Al doped zinc oxide (AZO) films, AZO-X films, using d.c. magnetron sputtering process and have investigated their electro-optical properties and their surface morphology. AZO-X films showed a good balance between the transmittance in near-infrared area and the durability under 85°C-85%RH condition. And AZO-X film also had higher haze value after wet chemical etching than the value obtained in normal AZO film. Furthermore, AZO-X films have been applied to amorphous Si (a-Si) single-type solar cells as the front electrodes. The efficiency as high as 10.1% with high short-circuit current has been obtained, showing that this novel AZO-X is the new promising material for front electrode of a-Si solar cells.