This phenomenon leads to poor optical and structural properties [7]. RT deposition is important for photovoltaic devices as the thermal treatments may change the intended compositional distribution and also introduce defects that act as recombination centers for charge carriers in the solar cell

device. Many attempts have been made to deposit ITO and TiO2 thin selleckchem films on silicon substrates by RF Selleck GF120918 sputtering technique at RT [8, 9]. The ITO film exhibits excellent conductivity and it can be used as an ohmic contact on a p-type c-Si. De Cesare, et al. achieved good electrical properties with ITO/c-Si contact at RT [10]. ITO has also become the attractive material for its anti-reflection (AR) properties and enhanced relative spectral response in the blue-visible region. Optical device performance depends greatly on the surface morphology and crystalline quality of the semiconductor layer [11]. Another material, TiO2, is well known in silicon processing technology and has

wide applications in optics and optoelectronics [12, 13]. TiO2 films can be distinguished into three major polymorphs: anatase, rutile, and brookite. Each phase exhibits a different crystal configuration with unique electrical, optical, and physical properties. Anatase is the most photoactive but thermally instable and it converts into rutile phase above 600°C [14, 15]. In this paper, RF sputtering of ITO/TiO2 is used to eliminate the standard high-temperature deposition process required for the formation of AR films. This also guarantees MAPK inhibitor that the critical surface layer of the monocrystalline Si is not damaged. Present work reports the crystal structure, optical reflectance, and microstructure of the ITO/TiO2 AR films, RF sputter deposited on monocrystalline Si p-type (100) at RT. Methods ITO and TiO2 were deposited on a 0.01- to 1.5-Ω cm boron-doped monocrystalline Si wafer with one side polished. Silicon substrates were cleaned by a standard Radio Corporation of America method to remove surface contamination. After rinsing with deionized water (ρ > 18.2 MΩ cm) and N2 blowing,

the ITO and TiO2 layers were deposited onto the front side of silicon wafers by RF sputtering using an Auto HHV500 sputtering unit. Table 1 shows the sputtering SB-3CT conditions for ITO and TiO2 films. The thickness of the single-layer ITO and TiO2 films was deduced from the following relation: (1) where λ o is the mid-range wavelength of 500 nm and n and d are the refractive index and film thickness, respectively. The morphology of the ITO and TiO2 films was characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM; Dimension Edge, Bruker, Santa Barbara, CA, USA). To determine the crystallite structure of films, X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were carried out using a high-resolution X-ray diffractometer (PANalytical X’pert PRO MRD PW3040, Almelo, The Netherlands) with CuKα radiation at 0.15406-nm wavelength.