TY - JOUR
T1 - Study of the optical, electrical and corrosion resistance properties of AZO layers deposited by DC pulsed magnetron sputtering
AU - G-Berasategui, E.
AU - Zubizarreta, C.
AU - Bayón, R.
AU - Barriga, J.
AU - Barros, Raquel
AU - Martins, R.
AU - Fortunato, E.
PY - 2015/6/15
Y1 - 2015/6/15
N2 - Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a common material used as a front contact layer on chalcopyrite CuInGaSe2 (CIGS)-based thin-film solar cells since it combines optimum optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts are required to develop high-performance CIGS solar cells. However, the durability of the cells is highly influenced by the corrosion resistance behaviour of the AZO layers. In this work, an exhaustive study of the aluminium-doped zinc oxide layers (AZO) deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering (MS) has been performed. The optical, electrical and electrochemical corrosion resistance properties of the AZO layers have been evaluated as a function of the deposition pressure. The results show that adjusting the deposition pressure could develop AZO layers with very high electrochemical corrosion resistance in chlorinated aqueous media combined with optimum electrical and optical properties. Layers grown at 3×10-3mbar pressure present very high corrosion resistance values (in the order of 106 Ω) and very high electrochemical stability, indicating no tendency for electrochemical corrosion degradation. Besides, these layers are highly transparent with an average transmittance in the visible range above 90% and with a low resistivity of 6.8×10-4 Ωcm for a 1000nm films thickness, making them optimum candidate front contact for high-performance and high durability CIGS solar cells.
AB - Aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a common material used as a front contact layer on chalcopyrite CuInGaSe2 (CIGS)-based thin-film solar cells since it combines optimum optical and electrical properties with low cost and abundant elemental availability. Low-resistivity and high-transmission front contacts are required to develop high-performance CIGS solar cells. However, the durability of the cells is highly influenced by the corrosion resistance behaviour of the AZO layers. In this work, an exhaustive study of the aluminium-doped zinc oxide layers (AZO) deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering (MS) has been performed. The optical, electrical and electrochemical corrosion resistance properties of the AZO layers have been evaluated as a function of the deposition pressure. The results show that adjusting the deposition pressure could develop AZO layers with very high electrochemical corrosion resistance in chlorinated aqueous media combined with optimum electrical and optical properties. Layers grown at 3×10-3mbar pressure present very high corrosion resistance values (in the order of 106 Ω) and very high electrochemical stability, indicating no tendency for electrochemical corrosion degradation. Besides, these layers are highly transparent with an average transmittance in the visible range above 90% and with a low resistivity of 6.8×10-4 Ωcm for a 1000nm films thickness, making them optimum candidate front contact for high-performance and high durability CIGS solar cells.
KW - AZO layers
KW - Corrosion properties
KW - DC magnetron sputtering
KW - Electrical properties
KW - Optical properties
KW - Transparent conductive films
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928583904&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2014.12.062
DO - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2014.12.062
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84928583904
VL - 271
SP - 141
EP - 147
JO - Surface & Coatings Technology
JF - Surface & Coatings Technology
SN - 0257-8972
ER -