Effective improvement of light trapping from double-textured ZnO:Al transparent conducting films

Double-textured ZnO:Al (AZO) transparent conducting films were prepared successfully by a novel method, including the process of deposition, etching and re-deposition. Only one-step etching process was adopted during the whole procedure, and NaOH solution (5 wt%) was employed as the etchant. Double-textured AZO films exhibited higher haze values when the working pressures of deposition and re-deposition process were different. Effective improvement of light trapping was obtained from the double-textured AZO films prepared by this method. For the double-textured AZO films, the resistivity kept the order of 10(-3) Omega cm. The double-textured AZO films prepared by the novel method, which can be used as front electrodes, have potential application in thin film solar cells for light trapping. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.