Studies on fabrication and characterization of a ZnO/p-Si-based solar cell

A kind of solar cell with the n-ZnO/p-Si hetero-junction interface structure has been fabricated by using DC magnetron sputtering, and its photovoltaic (PV) property is investigated by using the current–voltage (I–V)(I–V) measurement under AM 1.5 illumination. The light I–VI–V curves show a strong bias-dependent change and the photo-electric conversion efficiencies in the range of 0.7–1.14% have been achieved. The largest values of open circuit voltage (Voc)(Voc) and short circuit current (Jsc)(Jsc) were about 400 mV and 17.27 mA/cm2, respectively. The crossover behavior of the dark and light I–VI–V curves suggests that the recombination current arising from the interface states contributes to the bias dependence of the light I–VI–V curve. The Si 2p spectra at the interface of ZnO/p-Si confirm the complexity of the interface quality and the existence of a large number of interface states. The bend behavior arising from the back contact barrier and the series resistance up to 50Ω obtained from the dark I–VI–V curve are also confirmed to be the crucial factors for achieving a good performance of the ZnO/p-Si-based solar cell.