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Boron Doping Effects on the Electro-optical Properties of Zinc Oxide Thin Films Deposited by Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Jerome Steinhauser ,
Sylvie Faÿ ,
Romain Schlüchter ,
Seung Yeop Myong ,
Evelyne Vallat  and
Christophe Ballif
Jerome Steinhauser
Affiliation:
[email protected], Institute of microtechnology, PV-Lab, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
Sylvie Faÿ
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Neuchâtel, Institute of microtechnology, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
Romain Schlüchter
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Neuchâtel, Institute of microtechnology, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
Seung Yeop Myong
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Neuchâtel, Institute of microtechnology, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
Evelyne Vallat
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Neuchâtel, Institute of microtechnology, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
Christophe Ballif
Affiliation:
[email protected], University of Neuchâtel, Institute of microtechnology, Breguet 2, Neuchatel, N/A, 2000, Switzerland
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Abstract

Boron-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) films deposited by Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) technique are used as Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) to contact thin-film silicon solar cells. In this paper, the effect of boron introduced as dopant during ZnO formation is studied. These films are highly transparent in the visible range, whereas in the near infrared region their transmittance decreases with the increase of boron content due to free carrier absorption (FCA). A shifting of the fondamental band gap is also observed. The resistivity decreases of about one order of magnitude with the increase of the doping ratio ([B2H6]/[DEZ]) from 0 to 2. This resistivity drop is mainly due to an increase of the free carrier concentration. In low doped samples, Hall mobility increases with grain size, whereas it shows no grain size dependence in highly doped layers. This suggest that the scattering by grain-boundary is the main limiting factor for transport in low doped ZnO samples, whereas in highly doped ZnO films transport is controlled by the ionized impurity scattering within the grains.

Keywords

oxidetransparent conductorchemical vapor deposition (CVD) (deposition)
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 928: Symposium GG – Current and Future Trends of Functional Oxide Films , 2006 , 0928-GG12-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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