Chapters authored
Physical and Technological Aspects of Solar Cells Based on Metal Oxide-Silicon Contacts with Induced Surface Inversion Layer
Part of the book: Application of Solar Energy
Sputtered Indium Tin Oxide Films for Optoelectronic Applications
High‐quality indium tin oxide (ITO) films have been fabricated using a DC sputtering technique in a pure argon atmosphere with a postannealing in an oxygen environment at atmosphere pressure. Structural, morphological, and electro‐optical parameters of the ITO films were studied at different annealing temperatures for the films fabricated on two types of glass substrates, soda lime and alkali‐free substrates. A comparative analysis shows that low‐cost soda lime substrates are suitable for the fabrication of high‐quality nanocrystalline ITO films after annealing them at 300°C. This result is of great importance for reducing the cost of thin film solar cells, in which ITO films serve as transparent conducting electrodes. We present a comparison of the properties of sputtered ITO films with those fabricated using a spray pyrolysis deposition technique, which is useful for some optoelectronic applications.
Part of the book: Optoelectronics
Surface-Barrier Photodiodes with Transparent Electrodes for High-Performance Detection in the UV-NIR Spectrum
The aim of this chapter is to present a short review in the field of design, fabrication technology, and testing of high-efficiency surface-barrier photodiodes with electrodes based on thin-film transparent conducting oxides (TCO) such as tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO). Most of this review is based on our own results obtained and reported during the last 30 years. Besides a brief description of the low-cost spray pyrolysis deposition technique, mainly used in our work for deposition of the TCO films on a semiconductor surface, structural, morphological, and optoelectronic properties of these TCO films are discussed. As an example, a successful application of these TCO films is shown and used in high-efficiency surface-barrier photodiodes for a wide spectral range, from near ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (NIR), and fabricated on different semiconductor substrates such as traditional Si, wide energy band ZnS, and GaP compound semiconductor substrates. The possible use of the Si surface-barrier structures as radiation-resistant detectors and gamma radiation detectors is discussed. The properties of high-efficiency surface-barrier photodiodes based on a perspective ternary semiconductor compound, Hg3In2Te6 mercury indium telluride (MIT), for detection of 1.3 μm and 1.55 μm radiation for applications in fiber optics, are also reported.
Part of the book: Optoelectronics
Spray Pyrolysis Processing for Optoelectronic Applications
Spray pyrolysis is a low-cost and simple technique for the fabrication of high-quality transparent and conducting oxide thin films for different optoelectronic applications. The fabrication method, structural, morphological, and electro-optical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) films have been investigated. The deposited films have low resistivity and high transparency. Applications of such films are shown in high-efficiency surface-barrier photodetectors and solar cells, where the films serve as an active and antireflection electrode. A short description of other undoped and doped oxide films such as ZnO and TiO2 fabricated by spray pyrolysis is presented.
Part of the book: Pyrolysis