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Growth of pure and doped ZnO thin films for solar cell applications

M. Sathya, A. Claude, P. Govindasamy and K. Sudha

Thin films form a fair share in the ever growing solar cell research and also in the market. One of the most versatile materials grown as thin films today are from derivatives of pure and doped Zinc Oxide. A combination of dip coating and electrodeposition is a powerful tool in order to achieve good quality thin films. The main advantage is that the basic precursor which is Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) can be safely avoided since its procurement enhances the cost and the availability if selective nowadays. The initial run is made by dip coating process where a supersaturated solution of the material to be coated is taken in a beaker. A glass substrate is dipped into the supersaturated solution and dried for an optimal amount of time. Multi layered thin film coatings are formed and dried consequently before each individual dipping to enhance uniformity. Pure thin films of Zinc Oxide are initially grown with thickness varying so as to reach the optimal solar cell quality. Zinc Oxide is doped with dopants like Chromium, Cadmium, Magnesium and Manganese with dopant levels ranging from 0.01 to 0.10 per wt% in order to investigate an appreciation in the quality of the solar cells. These pure and doped substrates of ZnO thin films are investigated for their structural and optical properties [1-3].