Elaboration of heterojunction solar cells by the deposit of tin oxide thin films on silicon by APCVD

We present in this paper the experimental results concerning the deposition of tin oxide SnO2 on silicon substrate by the technique of Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition (APCVD). The obtained Si–SnO2 heterostructure is used for photovoltaic application. The properties of tin oxide thin films deposited by APCVD technique depends on three parameters which are the deposition temperature, the deposition time and the oxygen pressure. We have obtained the optimal value of each parameter by the measurement of the open-circuit voltage of the obtained Si–SnO2 heterostructure. So, at the temperature of 490 °C during 12 min of deposition time under oxygen pressure of 1 bar we have obtained tin oxide thin layers exhibiting the best optoelectronic and morphology characteristics. These thin films are polycrystalline and present a resistivity of 1.3 · 10− 3 Ω cm and a refractive index of 1.72. The Si–SnO2 heterojunction solar cell that has an area of 2 × 1.5 cm2 is characterised by the current–voltage I(V) measurement. It gives an open circuit voltage of 0.45 V and a short circuit current of 74 mA.