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Improvement of p-CuO/n-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell Performance Through Nitrogen Plasma Treatment

  • Asian Consortium ACCMS–International Conference ICMG 2020
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Abstract

p-type cupric oxide (p-CuO) thin films on n-type silicon substrates were grown to make p-CuO/n-Si heterojunctions. The CuO deposition on Si was carried out using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering followed by rapid thermal annealing at 350°C. Plasma nitridation was used to incorporate nitrogen (N) for improving the electrical conductivity of the CuO thin films. The crystalline structure and surface composition of RF-sputtered CuO were characterized by x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was observed that the introduction of nitrogen in CuO improves the photovoltaic properties, such as the open-circuit voltage, short circuit current, and the photocurrent of the p-CuO-n-Si heterojunction.

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Acknowledgments

SR acknowledges the support provided by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, UK; Grant No. R-265-000-553-597 and AG sincerely acknowledges the support provided by the DST-FIST program of Govt. of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, SRM University AP, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, 522503, India

    Shaik Md. Abzal, Jatis Kumar Dash & Goutam Kumar Dalapati

  2. School of Electronics Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 28644, Republic of Korea

    Chandreswar Mahata

  3. Department of Physics, P. K. College, Contai, West Bengal, 721404, India

    Asim Guchhait

  4. Sunkonnect, 1 Cleantech Loop, Singapore, 637141, Singapore

    Avishek Kumar

  5. Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Seeram Ramakrishna & Goutam Kumar Dalapati

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  1. Shaik Md. Abzal
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  2. Jatis Kumar Dash
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  3. Chandreswar Mahata
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  4. Asim Guchhait
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Correspondence to Jatis Kumar Dash or Goutam Kumar Dalapati.

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Abzal, S.M., Dash, J.K., Mahata, C. et al. Improvement of p-CuO/n-Si Heterojunction Solar Cell Performance Through Nitrogen Plasma Treatment. J. Electron. Mater. 50, 1720–1725 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08593-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08593-x

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