Textured glass is prepared by ion beam treatment using wet chemically etched ZnO film as three dimensional etching mask. The shape and rms roughness of the textured glass can be adjusted by changing the initial ZnO thickness, wet‐chemical etching duration and ion beam etching parameters. The maximum rms roughness we achieved is 228 nm, with lateral feature size larger than 2 μm. The glass texturing process allows to study scattering already at the glass/TCO interface to enhance the refractive index step from rough material to silicon. First microcrystalline silicon thin film solar cells grown on the textured glass reveal certain light trapping effect with a short circuit current density up to 20 mA/cm2. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

A novel approach is presented for introducing a surface morphology with beneficial light scattering properties to sputter-deposited ZnO:Al films, which are used as front contact in Si thin film photovoltaic devices. Electrochemical anodization was used to trigger local dissolution, leading to interfacial structures complementary to those commonly prepared by an etching step in diluted HCl. By systematic variation of electrochemical etching conditions and electrolytes, the essential experimental parameters for designing the ZnO film surface were evaluated. The prepared films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, four-point resistance and Hall measurements. Furthermore, electrochemical and chemical etching steps were combined to generate a diversity of different surface morphologies. The application of such films in microcrystalline Si single junction solar cells has shown promising initial results.

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A novel approach is presented for introducing a surface morphology with beneficial light scattering properties to sputter-deposited ZnO:Al films, being used as front contact in Si thin film photovoltaic devices. Electrochemical anodization was used to trigger local corrosion, leading to interfacial structures complementary to those commonly prepared by an etching step in diluted HCl. By systematic variation of electrochemical etching conditions and electrolytes, sensible experimental parameters were evaluated for the preparation of ZnO films that can be applied in Si thin film solar cells. The prepared films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, four-point resistance and Hall measurements. Furthermore, the kinetics of the heterogeneous interfacial reaction during the corrosion process were studied utilizing electroanalytical techniques. This allowed the identification of the processes occurring at the solid/liquid interface. Application of such films in microcrystalline Si single junction solar cells has shown promising initial results.