Conductive Conformal Thin Film Coatings for Textured PV, ALD Versus Sputtering

Next-generation photovoltaic structures require well-established deposition routes to conformal and conducting materials with defined chemical, physical and electronic composition. This work reports on the preliminary findings associated with conformal metal oxides on structured substrates including: 1) Discovery of sputtering process conditions that can be made semi-conformal when combined with in-situ techniques such as ion-beam milling for honing surface structures; 2) Development of relevant ALD chemistries that are materials-properties competitive with sputtered materials; 3) Evaluation of chemically-functionalized surface structures that maximize surface area but are structurally tailored for efficient gas flow and to minimize line-of-sight shadowing. The initial experiments have centered on combinations of amorphous and crystalline indium oxide, zinc oxide, aluminum zinc oxide, indium tin oxide, fluorinated tin oxide and indium zinc oxide. This presentation will describe these initial experiments and elucidate key physiochemical nature of the deposited thin films.