SBIR Phase I: Low Resistivity Zinc Oxide by Solution Deposition as a Transparent Conducting Oxide for Solar Cells

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种基于溶液的技术，以沉积电阻率为1×10-4欧姆-厘米或更低的掺杂氧化锌薄膜。将使用一种储量丰富、成本低廉的材料作为掺杂剂。为了提高掺杂氧化锌薄膜的导电性，我们将研究掺杂氧化锌薄膜的结构和光学性质，以及沉积后退火热处理的影响。随着本项目以外的进一步努力不断提高导电性，掺杂的氧化锌薄膜有望作为透明导电氧化物(TCO)用于薄膜太阳能电池。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是提供一种可行的候选材料，作为薄膜太阳能电池中常用的TCO的低成本替代品。目前，TCO的制备一般采用基于真空的溅射方法，这种方法不如基于溶液的方法经济有效。随着薄膜太阳能电池在未来几十年的预期快速增长，低成本TCO的可用性将对降低薄膜太阳能电池的整体成本至关重要，从而使其变得更负担得起。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a solution-based technique to deposit doped zinc oxide thin film with resistivity that is 1 x 10-4 Ohm-cm or lower. An abundant and low-cost material will be used as the dopant. Structural and optical properties, and effects of post-deposition annealing will be studied to improve the conductivity of doped zinc oxide thin films. With further efforts beyond this project to continuously improve the conductivity, the doped zinc oxide thin film is expected to be used as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) in thin-film solar cells. The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide a viable material candidate as a low-cost alternative to the commonly used TCO in thin-film solar cells. Currently, TCOs are generally deposited by vacuum-based sputtering process, which is not as cost-effective as solution-based technique. With the expected fast growth of thin-film solar cells in the coming decades, the availability of low-cost TCO will be critical to reduce the overall cost of thin-film solar cell, thus making it more affordable.