Textured tin oxide films produced by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition from tetramethyltin and their usefulness in producing light trapping in thin film amorphous silicon solar cells

The phenomenon of light trapping was studied by producing and characterizing amorphous silicon solar cells on textured tin oxide films produced from tetramethyltin, bromotrifluoromethane and oxygen. The amount of texturing was systematically increased by increasing the film thickness. The investigation revealed that only about 5% to 10% diffuse scattering is necessary to obtain the entire beneficial effect of light trapping; higher values give rise to poorer cell performance. Conditions leading to the deposition of tin oxide films with various types of surface texturing and the subsequent solar cell results are reported.