High near-infrared transparent molybdenum-doped indium oxide thin films for nanocrystalline silicon solar cell applications

Molybdenum-doped indium oxide (IMO) thin films were deposited at 450 °C for varying molybdenum concentrations in the range of 0.5–2 at% by the spray pyrolysis technique. These films confirmed the cubic bixbyite structure of polycrystalline In2O3. The preferred growth orientation along the (2 2 2) plane shifts to (4 0 0) on higher Mo doping levels. The films doped with 0.5 at% Mo showed high mobility of 76.9 cm2/(V s). The high visible transmittance extends well into the near-infrared region. A possibility of using the produced IMO films in nanocrystalline (nc) silicon solar cell applications is discussed in this article. The morphological studies showed a change in the microstructure, which is consistent with the change in crystallographic orientation.