A Numerical Scheme To Quantify The Texture Characteristics Of Sputtered Aluminum Thin Film Back Reflectors

Texture angle and texture height are critical parameters that determine the performance of solar cell back reflectors. While average peak height and roughness are directly available from atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, several key parameters are missing. These parameters include average peak angle, peak angle distribution, and peak height distribution. In this work, a numerical scheme was developed to characterize the surface morphology of solar cell back reflectors. First part of this work demonstrated a numerical method to quantify the texture parameters by identifying relevant peak and valley points from 3D surface morphology data, such as AFM scan data. Peak angle and peak height filters were introduced into the numerical code to eliminate noises. In the second part, the program was utilized to systematically study the effects of sputtering deposition parameters on the morphology of thin film aluminum back reflectors. The processed data clearly indicated the existence of multiple factors that determined the film texture. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.