Wafer-scale pulsed laser deposition of ITO for solar cells: reduced damage vs. interfacial resistance
Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) used in solar cells must be optimized to achieve minimum parasitic absorption losses while providing sufficient lateral conductivity. Low contact resistance with the adjacent device layers and low damage to the substrate during deposition of the TCO are also important requirements to ensure high solar cell efficiencies. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has been proposed as an alternative low-damage TCO deposition technique on top of sensitive layers and interfaces in organic and perovskite solar cells but is yet to be studied for the more mature silicon technology. Focusing on the PLD deposition pressure as the key parameter to reduce damage, we developed t…
Sputtered transparent electrodes for optoelectronic devices
Summary Transparent electrodes and metal contacts deposited by magnetron sputtering find applications in numerous state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells and light-emitting diodes. However, the deposition of such thin films may damage underlying sensitive device layers due to plasma emission and particle impact. Inserting a buffer layer to shield against such damage is a common mitigation approach. We start this review by describing how sputtered transparent top electrodes have become archetypal for a broad range of optoelectronic devices and then discuss the possible detrimental consequences of sputter damage on device performance. Next, we review common buffer-layer m…
ITO top-electrodes via industrial-scale PLD for efficient buffer-layer-free semitransparent perovskite solar cells
The deposition of transparent conductive oxides (TCO) usually employs harsh conditions that are frequently harmful to soft/organic underlayers. Herein, successful use of an industrial pulsed laser deposition (PLD) tool to directly deposit indium tin oxide (ITO) films on semitransparent vacuum-deposited perovskite solar cells without damage to the device stack is demonstrated. The morphological, electronic, and optical properties of the PLD deposited ITO films are optimized. A direct relation between the PLD chamber pressure and the solar cell performance is obtained. The semitransparent perovskite solar cells prepared exclusively by vacuum-assisted techniques had fill factors of 78% and exc…
Pulsed Laser Deposition of Cs 2 AgBiBr 6 : from Mechanochemically Synthesized Powders to Dry, Single-Step Deposition
Cs2AgBiBr6 has been proposed as a promising lead-free and stable double perovskite alternative to hybrid and lead-based perovskites. However, the low solubility of precursors during wet synthesis, or the distinct volatility of components during evaporation, results in complex multistep synthesis approaches, hampering the widespread employment of Cs2AgBiBr6 films. Here, we present pulsed laser deposition of Cs2AgBiBr6 films as a dry, single-step and single-source deposition approach for high-quality film formation. Cs2AgBiBr6 powders were prepared by mechanochemical synthesis and pressed into a solid target maintaining phase purity. Controlled laser ablation of the double perovskite target i…