Schottky solar cells with amorphous carbon nitride thin films prepared by ion beam sputtering technique

This paper reports on the successful deposition of amorphous carbon nitride thin films (a-CNx) and fabrication of ITO/a-CNx/Al Schottky thin-film sola r cells by using the technique of ion beam sputtering. XPS and Raman spectr a are used to characterize the deposited thin films. Nitrogen atoms are inc orporated into the films in the form of carbon-nitrogen multiple bands. The ir optical properties are also investigated using a spectroscopic ellipsome ter and UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer. The refraction of the carbon nitride thin films deposited lies in the range of 1.7-2.1. The Tauc optical band ga p is about 0.6 eV. The photovoltaic values of the device, short-circuit cur rent and open-circuit voltage are 1.561 muA/cm(2) and 250 mV, respectively, when exposed to AM1.5 illumination (100 mW/cm(2), 25 degreesC). (C) 2002 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.