Study of back reflectors for thin film silicon solar cells

• White polyvinyl butyral and transparent conductive oxide materials are used.
• The reflection properties of TCO/Al and TCO/white PVB foil reflectors are studied.
• The ZnO:Al and ZnO:B films are used as two types of TCO materials.
• TCO/white PVB foil reflector shows a high reflection compared to TCO/Al reflector.

In this study, the reflection properties of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films i.e. aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) and boron doped zinc oxide (ZnO:B) films plus aluminum (Al) films or white polyvinyl butyral (PVB) foils, which are usually used as the combined back reflectors of thin film silicon solar cells, are investigated. Sputtered ZnO:Al films were etched in diluted hydrochloric acid (1%) to achieve rough surface structures while textured ZnO:B films were directly prepared by a low pressure chemical vapor deposition technique. It is found that the rough TCO/Al reflectors show a low total reflection, which is mainly due to the parasitic absorption by the surface plasmons at the rough TCO/Al interfaces as well as the absorption in the TCO films. Differently, the rough TCO/white PVB foil reflectors display a slightly high light reflection regardless of the influence of the rough interface without the excitation of surface plasmons. Thus, the TCO/white PVB foil back reflectors could be a good candidate with respect to light utilization when they are applied in thin film silicon solar cells.