Fabrication and characterization of Al/Ta thin films as metal junctions for solar cell applications

In the present work, the effect of deposition time (10 min, 20 min, and 30 min) on the structural, morphological, and electrical properties of Al/Ta thin films has been investigated. The XRD and microscopy results revealed that the thin films exhibit a bcc structure, with a strong (1 1 0) preferred orientation and followed a columnar growth with grain sizes lower than 100 nm. Thin film with 20-min deposition time exhibits less average roughness and better morphology than 10-min and 30-min. Further, the average resistance was smallest for thin films with 20-min of deposition time along with the optical reflectance between 50 and 85% in wavelength region of 400–1000 nm. The Al/Ta thin film can be employed as an excellent back-contact material for thinfilm solar cells due to its improved crystallinity, reflectance, and lower resistivity.