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Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) thin films are prepared on ultra-thin flexible glass and flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates at room temperature by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. Optimization of films has been achieved by varying process parameters to reach the demands of proper conductive layer for thin silicon solar cell applications. Structural analysis of the films was done by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy. Optical and electrical properties of the films were carried out by means of UV-Visible spectroscopy, and four point probe measurements. Thickness of the films was obtained by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Transmission measurements clearly show that by decreasing pressure transmission of the AZO film is improved in the UV region. Our results show that by varying the deposition parameters, low resistivity films of 1.1×10-3 Ωcm and 1×10-3 Ωcm were obtained on PET and on ultra-thin flexible substrates, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of an array of Ag nanoparticles in solar cells is expected to increase light trapping through field enhancement and plasmonic scattering. Requirement of Ag nanoparticle decoration of cell surfaces or interfaces at the macro-scale, calls for a self-organized fabrication method such as thermal dewetting. Optical properties of a 2D array of Ag nanoparticles are known to be very sensitive to their shape and size. We show that these parameters depend on the type of the substrate used. We observe that the average nanoparticle size decreases with increasing substrate thermal conductivity and nanoparticle size distribution broadens with increasing surface roughness.