Method for the production of a transparent conductive oxide coating
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsJoachim Mueller, Jian Liu, Stephan Wieder
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention concerns a method for the generation of a transparent conductive oxide coating (TCO layer), in particular a transparent conductive oxide coating as a transparent contact for thin section solar cells. The TCO layer consists at least of a first layer of high conductivity and a second layer of low conductivity, with the second layer generated by DC sputtering of at least one target, which contains zinc oxide and additionally aluminum, and the process atmosphere contains oxygen. Further, the present invention relates to a TCO layer as well as thin section solar cells on CIGS and CdTe basis.
Claims19
A method for generating a transparent conductive oxide contact layer on a substrate for thin-section solar cells, comprising:
- generating a first layer by means of DC sputtering, the first layer comprising aluminum-doped zinc oxide;
- and
- generating a second layer by DC sputtering at least one target comprising zinc oxide and at least one of aluminum, indium, gallium, boron, and combinations thereof in a process atmosphere comprising oxygen.
A transparent conductive oxide contact layer on a substrate for thin-section solar cells, comprising:
- a first layer of high conductivity;
- and
- a second layer of a much lower conductivity, where the second layer comprises aluminum-doped zinc oxide deposited in a process atmosphere containing oxygen.
A thin section solar cell on a substrate, comprising
- a layer structure on the substrate, the layer structure comprising:
- a metal layer comprising at least one of the metals molybdenum, niobium, copper, nickel, silver and aluminum;
- an absorber layer on the metal layer, the absorber layer comprising at least one of copper indium diselenide, copper indium gallium diselenide, copper gallium diselenide and copper indium sulfide;
- a buffer layer on the absorber layer, the buffer layer comprising at least one of cadmium zinc sulfide, cadmium telluride, cadmium sulfide, zinc sulfide and zinc magnesium oxide;
- a transparent conductive oxide layer comprising:
- a low conductivity layer on the layer buffer layer, the low conductivity layer comprising aluminum-doped zinc oxide deposited in a process atmosphere containing oxygen;
- and
- a high conductivity layer on the transparent conductive oxide layer.
A thin section solar cell on a substrate, comprising:
- a layer structure on the substrate, the layer structure comprising:
- a transparent conductive oxide coating having a high conductivity layer on the substrate and a low conductivity layer on the high conductivity layer, the low conductivity layer comprising aluminum-doped zinc oxide deposited in a process atmosphere containing oxygen;
- a cadmium sulfide layer on the low conductivity layer;
- a cadmium telluride layer on the cadmium sulfide layer;
- and
- a metal layer on the cadmium telluride layer, the metal layer comprising at least one of molybdenum, niobium, copper, nickel, silver and aluminum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.