Surface textured molybdenum doped zinc oxide thin films prepared for thin film solar cells using pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering

Abstract In this study, we examined the effect of etching on the electrical properties, transmittance, and scattering of visible light in molybdenum doped zinc oxide, ZnO:Mo (MZO) thin films prepared by pulsed direct current magnetron sputtering. We used two different etching solutions – KOH and HCl – to alter the surface texture of the MZO thin film so that it could trap light. The experimental results showed that an MZO film with a minimum resistivity of about 8.9 × 10− 4 Ω cm and visible light transitivity of greater than 80% can be obtained without heating at a Mo content of 1.77 wt.%, sputtering power of 100 W, working pressure of 0.4 Pa, pulsed frequency of 10 kHz, and film thickness of 500 nm. To consider the effect of resistivity and optical diffuse transmittance, we performed etching of an 800 nm thick MZO thin film with 0.5 wt.% HCl for 3–6 s at 300 K. Consequently, we obtained a resistivity of 1.74–2.75 × 10− 3 Ω cm, total transmittance at visible light of 67%–73%, diffuse transmittance at visible light of 25.1%–28.4%, haze value of 0.34–0.42, and thin film surface crater diameters of 220–350 nm.