The materials, optical and electrical properties of transparent conducting tin oxide-based thin films are investigated, with particular emphasis on their application to photovoltaics. Thin films of transparent conducting oxides are used as transparent electrodes in all thin film solar cells. However, the films contribute optical and electrical losses of their own. In this work, the fundamental aspects of increasing permittivity in transparent conductors are investigated by adding ZrO2 (a high permittivity material) to SnO2 films (a transparent conductor). The experimental results are explained by expectations from the Drude model for free electrons. Details and results for the film synthesis by chemical vapor deposition are explored. Results for decreased optical
absorptance are presented together with evidence for increased permittivity. Additionally,
experiments indicate that increasing permittivity also has the benefit of increasing carrier
mobility when in the limit of ionized impurity scattering.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07202010-101136 |
| Date | 02 August 2010 |
| Creators | Burst, James |
| Contributors | Bridget Rogers, Sharon Weiss |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-07202010-101136/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds