Preparation and characterization of TiO2 and TiO2: Nb films for photovoltaics applications
FBK-Ricerca Scientfica e Tecnologica, Via Sommarive 18, 38050 Povo (Trento), Italy
The new technologies for the production of solar cells based on thin films (second generation) require a better and more complete exploitation of the solar spectrum and the use of transparent electrodes (TCO). The need for low-cost and non-toxic and chemically stable transparent conducting oxides to replace indium-based oxides led to a considerable interest in Ti-based materials and in new doping routes beyond the conventional method of introducing oxygen deficiency. In our lab, the on-going work in this field concerns pure and doped TiO2 films deposition at low temperature, by RF sputtering in argon, argon-oxygen and argon-hydrogen plasmas. The films were studied from both a structural (for their chemical and electronic properties) and optical point of view.