High Pressure Sputtering of materials for selective contacts in emerging photovoltaic cells”.

Abstract

In this work we have explored the growth by

high pressure sputtering (HPS) of materials intended for novel

selective contacts for photovoltaic cells. This technique shows

promise for the low-damage low-temperature deposition of PV

materials. We studied the deposition of ITO, MoOx and TiOx

using pure Ar and mixed Ar/O2 atmospheres as well as ceramic

or metallic targets. We show that HPS deposition of these

materials is feasible. The growth rate is greatly reduced when

oxygen is added to the argon sputtering atmosphere. The best

sputtering RF power was 20-45 W for the pressure range

studied. Finally, as-deposited films present high surface

recombination, but a mild hot plate anneal at 200ºC recovers

long effective lifetimes.