TY - GEN A1 - Gerlach, Dominic A1 - Wippler, David A1 - Wilks, Regan G. A1 - Wimmer, Manuel A1 - Lozac'h, Mickaël A1 - Duarte, Roberto Felix A1 - Ueda, Shigenori A1 - Yoshikawa, Hideki A1 - Lips, Klaus A1 - Rech, Bernd A1 - Sumiya, Masatomo A1 - Kobayashi, Kaoru A1 - Gorgoi, Mihaela A1 - Hüpkes, Jürgen A1 - Bär, Marcus T1 - p-Type a-Si:H/ZnO:Al and μc-Si:H/ZnO:Al Thin-Film Solar Cell Structures—A Comparative Hard X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Study T2 - IEEE journal of photovoltaics N2 - The chemical and electronic properties of a- Si:H(B)/ZnO:Al and μc-Si:H(B)/ZnO:Al thin-film solar cell structures are studied by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES). Using a combination of different X-ray excitation energies and deliberate sample design, we were able to select the probed volume, i.e., the silicon capping layer only or the silicon and zinc oxide layer (including the buried interface). For the a-Si:H(B) material, we find a higher deposition rate and a smaller value for the modified Auger parameter than for μc-Si:H(B). In addition, we find indications of a pronounced band bending limited to the very surface of the a-Si:H(B) and the μc-Si:H(B) layers, which is more distinct in the latter case. Y1 - 2013 SN - 2156-3381 VL - 3 IS - 1 SP - 483 EP - 487 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gorgoi, Mihaela A1 - Gerlach, Dominic A1 - Wilks, Regan G. A1 - Wippler, David A1 - Wimmer, Manuel A1 - Lozac'h, Mickaël A1 - Duarte, Roberto Felix A1 - Mück, Leonie Anna A1 - Meier, M. A1 - Ueda, Shigenori A1 - Yoshikawa, Hideki A1 - Lips, Klaus A1 - Rech, Bernd A1 - Sumiya, Masatomo A1 - Hüpkes, Jürgen A1 - Kobayashi, Kaoru A1 - Bär, Marcus T1 - The silicon/zinc oxide interface in amorphous silicon-based thin-film solar cells: Understanding an empirically optimized contact T2 - Applied Physics Letters N2 - The electronic structure of the interface between the boron-doped oxygenated amorphous silicon “window layer” (a-SiOx:H(B)) and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) was investigated using hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and compared to that of the boron-doped microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H(B))/ZnO:Al interface. The corresponding valence band offsets have been determined to be (−2.87 ± 0.27) eV and (−3.37 ± 0.27) eV, respectively. A lower tunnel junction barrier height at the μc-Si:H(B)/ZnO:Al interface compared to that at the a-SiOx:H(B)/ZnO:Al interface is found and linked to the higher device performances in cells where a μc-Si:H(B) buffer between the a-Si:H p-i-n absorber stack and the ZnO:Al contact is employed. Y1 - 2013 SN - 1077-3118 VL - 103 IS - 2 SP - 023903 ER -