Photovoltaic properties of Cu_2O-based heterojunction solar cells using n-type oxide semiconductor nano thin films prepared by low damage magnetron sputtering method

We improved the photovoltaic properties of Cu_2O-based heterojunction solar cells using n-type oxide semiconductor thin films prepared by a sputtering apparatus with our newly developed multi-chamber system. We also obtained the highest efficiency(3.21%) in an AZO/p-Cu_2O heterojunction solar cell prepared with optimized pre-sputtering conditions using our newly developed multi-chamber sputtering system. This value achieves the same or higher characteristics than AZO/Cu_2O solar cells with a similar structure prepared by the pulse laser deposition method.

Cu_2O-based solar cells using oxide semiconductors

We describe significant improvements of the photovoltaic properties that were achieved in Al-doped ZnO（AZO）/n-type oxide semiconductor/p-type Cu_2O heterojunction solar cells fabricated using p-type Cu_2O sheets prepared by thermally oxidizing Cu sheets. The multicomponent oxide thin film used as the n-type semiconductor layer was prepared with various chemical compositions on non-intentionally heated Cu_2O sheets under various deposition conditions using a pulsed laser deposition method. In Cu_2O-based heterojunction solar cells fabricated using various ternary compounds as the n-type oxide thin-film layer, the best photovoltaic performance was obtained with an n-ZnGa_2O_4 thin-film layer. In most of the Cu_2O-based heterojunction solar cells using multicomponent oxides composed of combinations of various binary compounds, the obtained photovoltaic properties changed gradually as the chemical composition was varied. However, with the ZnO–MgO and Ga_2O_3–Al_2O_3systems, higher conversion efficiencies（á/ as well as a high open circuit voltage（Voc/ were obtained by using a relatively small amount of MgO or Al_2O_3, e.g.,（ZnO）0：91–（MgO）0：09 and（Ga_2O_3/0：975–（Al_2O_3/0：025, respectively. When Cu_2O-based heterojunction solar cells were fabricated using Al_2O_3–Ga_2O_3–MgO–ZnO（AGMZO）multicomponent oxide thin films deposited with metal atomic ratios of 10, 60, 10 and 20 at.% for the Al, Ga, Mg and Zn, respectively, a high Vocof 0.98 V and an á of 4.82% were obtained. In addition, an enhanced á and an improved fill factor could be achieved in AZO/n-type multicomponent oxide/p-type Cu_2O heterojunction solar cells fabricated using Na-doped Cu_2O（Cu_2O：Na） sheets that featured a resistivity controlled by optimizing the post-annealing temperature and duration. Consequently, an á of 6.25% and a Vocof 0.84 V were obtained in a Mg F2/AZO/n-（Ga_2O_3–Al_2O_3//p-Cu_2O：Na heterojunction solar cell fabricated using a Cu_2O：Na sheet with a resistivity of approximately 10 cm and a（Ga_（0：975）A_（l0：025）/2O3 thin film with a thickness of approximately 60 nm.In addition, a Vocof 0.96 V and an á of 5.4% were obtained in a Mg F_2/AZO/n-AGMZO/p-Cu_2O：Na heterojunction solar cell.