title: Transparent conductive oxide layer with monolayer closed-pack Al-doped ZnO spheres and their application to a-Si thin-film solar cells.
abstract: We report a new (to the best of our knowledge) transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer with a monolayer of closed-pack Al-doped ZnO (AZO) spheres partly embedded in an AZO thin film. The average transmittance and haze ratio in the wavelength range of 380-800 nm achieves 65% and 55%, respectively, when AZO spheres with a diameter of 500 nm are embedded in a thickness of 240 nm AZO thin films. The a-Si thin-film solar cell with a regular p-i-n TCO structure is demonstrated. Under air mass 1.5 global illumination, conversion efficiencies of 5.6%, a fill factor of 0.55, V(oc) of 0.81 V, and a J(sc) of 2.44 mA/cm² are obtained. The Letter helps us to open up potential applications of a new TCO in advanced solar cells and light-emitting diodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Photonics, Feng-Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan. sslo@fcu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Shih-Shou
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Chen-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Der-Jun
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Jan