0000000000425186
AUTHOR
Salvatore Mirabella
showing 11 related works from this author
Photocurrent enhancement in thin a-Si:H solar cells via plasmonic light trapping
2014
Photocurrent enhancement in thin a-Si:H solar cells due to the plasmonic light trapping is investigated, and correlated with the morphology and the optical properties of the selfassembled silver nanoparticles incorporated in the cells' back reflector. © 2014 OSA.
TCO/Ag/TCO transparent electrodes for solar cells application
2014
Among transparent electrodes, transparent conductive oxides (TCO)/metal/TCO structures can achieve optical and electrical performances comparable to, or better than, single TCO layers and very thin metallic films. In this work, we report on thin multilayers based on aluminum zinc oxide (AZO), indium tin oxide (ITO) and Ag deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on soda lime glass at room temperature. The TCO/Ag/TCO structures with thicknesses of about 50/10/50 nm were deposited with all combinations of AZO and ITO as top and bottom layers. While the electrical conductivity is dominated by the Ag intralayer irrespective of the TCO nature, the optical transmissions show a dependence on the natur…
Influence of the electro-optical properties of an a-Si:H single layer on the performances of a pin solar cell
2012
We analyze the results of an extensive characterization study involving electrical and optical measurements carried out on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) thin film materials fabricated under a wide range of deposition conditions. By adjusting the synthesis parameters, we evidenced how conductivity, activation energy, electrical transport and optical absorption of an α-Si:H layer can be modified and optimized. We analyzed the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor of the dark conductivity by varying the dopant-to-silane gas flow ratio. Optical measurements allowed to extract the absorption spectra and the optical bandgap. Additionally, we report on the temperature dependen…
Self-assembled silver nanoparticles for plasmon-enhanced solar cell back reflectors: correlation between structural and optical properties
2013
The spectra of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) in self-assembled silver nanoparticles (NPs), prepared by solid-state dewetting of thin films, are discussed in terms of their structural properties. We summarize the dependences of size and shape of NPs on the fabrication conditions with a proposed structural-phase diagram. It was found that the surface coverage distribution and the mean surface coverage (SC) size were the most appropriate statistical parameters to describe the correlation between the morphology and the optical properties of the nanostructures. The results are interpreted with theoretical predictions based on Mie theory. The broadband scattering efficiency of LSPR…
Ion irradiation of AZO thin films for flexible electronics
2017
Aluminum doped Zinc oxide (AZO) is a promising transparent conductor for solar cells, displays and touch-screen technologies. The resistivity of AZO is typically improved by thermal annealing at temperatures not suitable for plastic substrates. Here we present a non-thermal route to improve the electrical and structural properties of AZO by irradiating the TCO films with O+ or Ar+ ion beams (30–350 keV, 3 × 1015–3 × 1016 ions/cm2) after the deposition on glass and flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). X-ray diffraction, optical absorption, electrical measurements, Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry and Atomic Force Microscopy evidenced an increase of the crystalline grain size and a …
Robustness and electrical reliability of AZO/Ag/AZO thin film after bending stress
2017
Abstract The increasing interest in thin flexible and bendable devices has led to a strong demand for mechanically robust and electrically reliable transparent electrodes. Indium doped Tin Oxide (ITO) and Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) are among the most employed transparent conductive oxides (TCO) and their reliability on flexible substrates have thus received a great attention. However, a high flexibility is usually achieved at very low thickness, which, unfortunately, compromises the electrical conductivity. Here we report the effects of mechanical bending cycles on the electrical and optical properties of ultra thin AZO/Ag/AZO multilayers (45 nm/10 nm/45 nm) and, for comparison, of AZ…
Chemical Bath Deposition as a Simple Way to Grow Isolated and Coalesced ZnO Nanorods for Light-Emitting Diodes Fabrication
2018
A way to grow and characterize isolated and coalesced ZnO nanorods on $p$ -GaN/sapphire structure is presented. Chemical bath deposition can be used to grow ZnO nanorods of device-quality, simply controlling the duration time of the growth process and the concentration of the nutrient solution in the bath. Increasing the duration of the process, as well as the concentration of the solution, leads to compact and sound layers instead of separated nanorods. However, too high concentrations stop the growth process. Light-emitting diodes fabricated on these ZnO-p-GaN heterostructure have a peak of electroluminescence at 400 nm and exhibit interesting electrical and optical properties. Optical po…
Laser irradiation of ZnO:Al/Ag/ZnO:Al multilayers for electrical isolation in thin film photovoltaics
2013
Laser irradiation of ZnO:Al/Ag/ZnO:Al transparent contacts is investigated for segmentation purposes. The quality of the irradiated areas has been experimentally evaluated by separation resistance measurements, and the results are complemented with a thermal model used for numerical simulations of the laser process. The presence of the Ag interlayer plays two key effects on the laser scribing process by increasing the maximum temperature reached in the structure and accelerating the cool down process. These evidences can promote the use of ultra-thin ZnO:Al/ Ag/ZnO:Al electrode in large-area products, such as for solar modules. © 2013 Crupi et al.; licensee Springer.
Light absorption in silicon quantum dots embedded in silica
2009
The photon absorption in Si quantum dots (QDs) embedded in SiO2 has been systematically investigated by varying several parameters of the QD synthesis. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or magnetron cosputtering (MS) have been used to deposit, upon quartz substrates, single layer, or multilayer structures of Si-rich- SiO2 (SRO) with different Si content (43-46 at. %). SRO samples have been annealed for 1 h in the 450-1250 °C range and characterized by optical absorption measurements, photoluminescence analysis, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and x-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. After annealing up to 900 °C SRO films grown by MS show a higher absorption coefficient a…
Room-temperature efficient light detection by amorphous Ge quantum wells
2013
In this work, ultrathin amorphous Ge films (2 to 30 nm in thickness) embedded in SiO2 layers were grown by magnetron sputtering and employed as proficient light sensitizer in photodetector devices. A noteworthy modification of the visible photon absorption is evidenced due to quantum confinement effects which cause both a blueshift (from 0.8 to 1.8 eV) in the bandgap and an enhancement (up to three times) in the optical oscillator strength of confined carriers. The reported quantum confinement effects have been exploited to enhance light detection by Ge quantum wells, as demonstrated by photodetectors with an internal quantum efficiency of 70%. © 2013 Cosentino et al.
Optimization of ZnO:Al/Ag/ZnO:Al structures for ultra-thin high-performance transparent conductive electrodes
2012
Al-doped ZnO (AZO)/Ag/AZO multilayer coatings (50-70 nm thick) were grown at room temperature on glass substrates with different silver layer thickness, from 3 to 19 nm, by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Thermal stability of the compositional, optical and electrical properties of the AZO/Ag/AZO structures were investigated up to 400 °C and as a function of Ag film thickness. An AZO film as thin as 20 nm is an excellent barrier to Ag diffusion. The inclusion of 9.5 nm thin silver layer within the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) material leads to a maximum enhancement of the electro-optical characteristics. The excellent measured properties of low resistance, high transmittanc…