Development of Novel Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Film and Its Application to Solar Cells

We have developed novel aluminum-doped zinc oxide films (AZO-X and AZO-HX films) with a high haze value using wet-chemical etching for various times after dc magnetron sputtering, and have investigated their electrical and optical properties, durability under high-humidity condition, and surface morphology. The AZO-X and AZO-HX films showed good balance between transmittance in the near-infrared area and durability under 85 °C–85%RH condition. These novel films also had a higher haze value after wet chemical etching than normal AZO films. The crater size and haze value of the AZO-HX film increased with increasing etching time in comparison with those of the AZO-X film. The haze value of the AZO-HX film was higher than that of the AZO-X film; their values are 90% at 550 nm and 60% at 800 nm. Furthermore, the AZO-HX film was applied in amorphous silicon (a-Si) single-type solar cells as the front electrode. The short-circuit current of the solar cell using the AZO-HX film was higher than that of the solar cell using the AZO-X film. As an optimization-based result, an efficiency as high as 10.2% was obtained, showing that the new AZO-HX film is a promising material for the front electrode of a-Si solar cells.