Electrical and photovoltaic properties of ZnO/Si heterostructures with ZnO films grown by atomic layer deposition

•Zinc oxide thin films grown by atomic layer deposition for solar cells application•Optimization of ZnO properties for an efficient photovoltaic response•Evaluation of electrical and photovoltaic performance of fabricated photovoltaic devices

We report on the properties of photovoltaic (PV) structures based on thin films of n-type zinc oxide grown by atomic layer deposition method on a cheap silicon substrate. Thin films of ZnO are used as n-type partner to p-type Si (110) and, when doped with Al, as a transparent electrode. PV structures with different thicknesses of ZnO layers (from 600 nm to 1600 nm) were deposited to determine the optimal performance of PV structures. The best response we obtained for the structure with ZnO layer thickness of 800 nm. The so-obtained PV structures show 6% efficiency.