Electrical and Optical Properties of Boron Doped Zinc Oxide Thin-film Deposited by Metal-organic Chemical Vapour Deposition for Photovoltaic Application
Duke Ateyh Oeba *
Department of Physics, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Private Bag X6, Florida-1710, South Africa.
Cliff Orori Mosiori
Department of Mathematics and Physics, Technical University of Mombasa, P.O. Box- 90420 -80100, GPO Mombasa, Kenya.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Globally, there is a high demand for clean, sustainable and renewable energy for domestic and industrial use. Conventional photovoltaic cell technology relies heavily on crystalline silicon wafers which render silicon-based solar cells expensive due to the initial cost of production and required complex deposition methods. Due to these challenges, great research interest is now directed towards thin-film solar cells. In this work, the metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method was chosen in the preparation of boron-doped zinc oxide (ZnO: B) thin film onto a glass slide substrate. The prepared ZnO: B thin films were characterized and optimized as a window layer for solar light trapping. The transmittance of the ZnO: B films varied between 70% and 81% for boron concentration ranging from 0.0 M to 0.06 M. With the increase in boron concentration, bandgap and resistivity of the ZnO: B varied from 2.96 to 3.72 eV and 120 Ω-cm to 58 Ω-cm, respectively. Based on the results obtained, we believe that ZnO: B is suitable as a window layer for solar light trapping in the fabrication of a photovoltaic cell.
Keywords: Metal-organic chemical vapour deposition, ZnO, B, optical properties, electrical properties, photovoltaic cell