Work function

Fabrication

Pathology

Nanotechnology

Grain size

Electron beam physical vapor deposition

Biology

Composite material

Ecology

Thin film

Materials science

Alternative medicine

Annealing (glass)

Layer (electronics)

Photovoltaic system

Solar cell

Optoelectronics

Medicine

Results in Physics

The fabrication of highly efficient nickel oxide (NiOx) thin film for optoelectronic devices is a challenging task because optoelectronic properties are considerably influenced by deposition technique and film thickness. The effect of thickness on the film properties of electron beam–physical vapour-deposited NiOx thin film has been investigated in this work. The influence of post-annealing treatment on the optoelectronic properties of the film was compared with that of the as-deposited one. Optical transparency gradually decreased upon the successive increment in thickness of the as-deposited and annealed films. The surface roughness of as-deposited films increased linearly with the increase in film thickness, but this behaviour was altered in post-annealed films. Spherical grains with high packing density were observed on the as-deposited films, but the grain size was altered substantially on the post-annealed films. The annealed films presented a higher work function than their corresponding as-deposited films. This work presents important insights into the design of photovoltaic devices with an effective deposition process, including a high material utilisation. Moreover, an attempt of fabricating inverted perovskite solar cell on as-deposited and annealing NiOx film as hole transporting material exhibited power conversion efficiency of 11.98% and 12.28%, individually. It was noticed that the high temperature annealing on NiOx film had a very little impact on the comparative photovoltaic performance of aforementioned PSC devices.

Optoelectronic properties of electron beam-deposited NiOx thin films for solar cell application