Abstract
Photovoltaic cell performance can be greatly improved by optimising the transparent conducting oxide used as the front contact. We have developed an advanced atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) process, by applying fast experimentation and using a combinatorial chemistry approach to aid the studies. By use of this process, F-doped SnO2 has been deposited using either monobutyl tin trichloride or tin tetrachloride with aqueous HF or trifluoro-acetic acid as the dopant source. The deposited films were characterised for crystallinity, morphology, resistivity and growth rate to aid optimisation of material suitable for solar cells. The results from use of the different tin precursors and dopants were compared. The most striking changes were related to resistivity and surface morphology. Compared with commercially available TCO CVD coated glasses, our coatings show excellent performance resulting in a high quantum efficiency yield for a-Si:H solar cells.