Sputtered Al-doped ZnO transparent conducting thin films suitable for silicon solar cells

• Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films were grown by RF-magnetron sputtering.
• AZO nanopowder compacted target was prepared by a sol–gel method.
• AZO thin films are polycrystalline and have preferred orientation along c-axis.
• We report a photovoltaic effect in Si(p)/porous silicon/AZO heterostructure.
• The cell exhibits an efficiency of 5%.

Highly transparent conducting Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films have been grown onto p-type porous silicon substrates by RF-magnetron sputtering at room temperature using aluminum doped nanocrystalline powder. The obtained AZO films were polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and preferentially oriented in the (002) crystallographic direction. The films are highly transparent in the visible wavelength region with a transmittance higher than 85% and an electrical resistivity of 1.56 × 10− 4 Ω·cm was obtained at room temperature. On the other hand, we have studied the position of the p–n junction involved in the In2O3:SnO2/(n)AZO/Si(p) structure, by electron-beam induced current technique. Current density–voltage characterizations in dark and under illumination were also investigated. The cell exhibits an efficiency of 5%.