EFFECT OF PRETREATMENT ON PET FILMS AND ITS APPLICATION
FOR FLEXIBLE AMORPHOUS SILICON SOLAR CELLS
Jian Ni, Jianjun Zhang, Junming Xue, Xianbao Wang, Liran Cao, Chunya Wu,
Shaozhen Xiong, Xinhua Geng, Ying Zhao
Institute of Photoelectronics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071
ABSTRACT
We proposed a low cost solution of flexible
amorphous silicon solar cells on Polyethylene
terephthalate(PET) polymer substrates deposited at low
temperatures. PET films were firstly annealed both in the
air and in vacuum at different temperatures, and the
properties of PET films after annealing were evaluated.
Then PET films were exposed to glow discharge Argon
plasma in a standard PECVD system to improve their
surface properties. The relationship between glow
discharge parameters and the energy of Ar plasma were
investigated by DES. After Ar plasma treatment, not only
the surface morphology of PET but also the adhesion of
the solar cell thin films to the PET substrates were
improved. Finally, single junction a-Si solar cells with a
p-i-n superstrate type were fabricated on PET/ITO
substrates at low temperature of Ts=125°C, and an initial
efficiency of 4.80/0 was obtained.
INTRODUCTION
Silicon thin film solar cells on plastic substrates have
attracted much attention from the viewpoints of lightweight,
flexible and less fragile. Flexible silicon thin-film solar cells
were mostly deposited on high price polymer substrates
like polyimide(PI) with n-i-p structure at relatively high
temperature(250-350°C)[1]. We propose a low cost solution
of flexible amorphous silicon solar cells on Polyethylene
terephthalate(PET) polymer substrates. PET is widely used
in industry with very low cost and high transparency. It
could be used as the substrate of p-i-n type solar cells and
compatible with the traditional deposition process of solar
cells on glass substrates. Its main drawback is the fact that
it can not be heated up to higher temperatures during the
deposition of both TCOs and solar cells. In this paper, the
heat resistance of PET films was firstly researched by
annealing both in the air and in vacuum at different
temperatures. Then the influence of Argon plasma
treatment on PET films was studied. The results showed
that the Ar plasma treatment improved the morphologies of
PET films and made them possible to be used as the
substrates of flexible silicon thin-film solar cells.
978-1-4244-2950-9/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE
EXPERIMENTS
The Argon glow discharge plasma was generated in a
standard PECVD system at plasma excitation frequency of
13.56MHz. ITO films as front contact layers were prepared
by reactive thermal deposition technique on PET
substrates at the substrate temperature of 140°C. The
structure of single junction amorphous silicon solar cells
was PET/ITO/ p(a-SiC)/ i(a-Si)/n(a-Si)/AI.
The optical emission spectroscopy (DES) of glow
discharge was measured to monitor the Ar* signal
intensities by PR650 spectrometer. Optical measurements
of PET and the ITO-coated PET films were done at normal
incidence in the wavelength range from 300 to 1400 nm,
with a double beam spectrophotometer Cary 5000. The
surface morphology of PET films and PET/ITO were
analyzed using atomic force microscopy (Nano Scope IV).
The solar cell performance was characterized by current
density versus voltage (J-V) measurements under AM1.5
illumination (100 mW/cm2 ).
RESULTS
The heat resistance of PET films in vacuum and air
PET films were firstly annealed both in the air
(125°C, 175°C) and in vacuum (80°C, 125°C, 175°C) for 3
hours. Then ITO films were prepared by reactive thermal
deposition technique on all the annealed PET films as well
as untreated film at the substrate temperature of 140°C.
Optical transmittance spectra were measured for the
different substrates using the air as reference and are
shown in Fig.1. It can be observed that for the vacuum
annealed samples, both PET and PET/ITO films have the
similar transmission in the visible and near-infrared
wavelength regions. However, for the air annealed ones,
the transmittance apparently decreased with the increasing
of substrate temperatures. It is reported [2] that PET is a
typical semi-crystalline thermoplastic. If the crystallites are
larger than the wavelength of light, the crystalline
thermoplastics are hazy or opaque. We assumed that the
change of crystallites in PET at high temperatures was due
to its chemical reaction with oxygen in the air.
000293
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Fig. 2 DES measurements of Ar plasma at different
treatment parameters

The improvements of surface properties of PET films

Argon plasma treatment by Ar plasma treatment

It is reported [3] that the hydrophilicity and surface
activity of polymers could be raised by plasma treatments.
In the present work, a glow discharge argon plasma was
generated in our standard PECVD system and applied to
improve the surface properties of PET films.
In the argon plasma, a large amount of energy is
transferred to the PET surface by bombardment of Ar+ and
metastable Ar* from the plasma [4]. Fig.2(a) shows the
typical Ar plasma detected by optical emission spectrum,
and here we focused on the peak corresponding to Ar*
(750 nm) which is mainly observed. We know that the
concentrations of Ar* mainly depend upon the applied rf
power density, however, as Fig. 2(b) shows, at a lower
pressure of 55Pa, the intensity of Ar* peak decreased
when the power reached 200W. At the power of 200W, the
Ar* peak intensities increased significantly with the working
gas pressures. In conclusion, in order to get higher energy
of Ar plasma, the working pressure should be increased as
the rf power increased.
Optical transmittance spectra have been measured
for the PET films treated by Ar plasma as well as the
untreated ones taken the air as reference and the results
are represented in Fig.3. It can be observed that the
transmittance of Ar treated PET decreased in the
300-500nm wavelength regions, however, the
transmittance of PET/ITO was higher than the untreated
one.
The surface morphology of Ar plasma treated PET
film was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM).
As shown in Fig. 4(a)(b), the original surface of untreated
PET was relatively smooth with conical protuberances and
moderate roughness. After the Ar plasma treatment, the
size of the conical protuberances was increased
(RMS=0.919nm to RMS=2.680nm). Surface morphology of
ITO films on PET substrates are shown in Fig.4 (c)(d),
orderly clusters assemblage was observed on Ar treated
PET/ITO films, while ITO films on untreated PET were
almost out of order. We could infer that the Ar plasma
treatment improved the surface properties of PET
substrate, and the formation of ITO grain structure was
considerably enhanced accordingly.

978-1-4244-2950-9/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 000294

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Wavelength I nm
Fig. 3 The transmittance of PET and PET/ITO with and
without Ar plasma treatment

(b)
Fig. 5 Pictures of flexible solar cells on PET(a) and Ar
plasma treated PET(b) substrates

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treated by Ar plasma, untreated PETIITO, Ar plasma
PET/ITO 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
Vo ltag e / V
Amorphous silicon solar cells deposited on PET/ITO
substrates at low temperature Fig. 6 Performances of a-Si solar cells deposited on
untreated PET, annealing PET, PET treated by Ar plasma
Single junction a-Si solar cells with a p-i-n superstrate
type on PET/ITO substrates were fabricated at low
temperature of Ts=125·C, with a structure of PETIITO/ CONCLUSIONS
p(a-SiC)/ i(a-Si)/n(a-Si)/AI. As shown in Fig. 5(a), solar
cells deposited on untreated PET were cracking/peeling As a conclusion, we proposed a low cost solution of
from the substrates, on the other hand, after Ar plasma flexible amorphous silicon solar cells on the PET
treatment, the adhesion of the solar cell thin films to the substrates. The results showed that Ar plasma treatment
PET substrates was promoted. Finally, single junction a-Si was an effective way to improve the surface properties of
solar cells on PET/ITO substrates with an initial efficiency low price PET films.
of 4.8% have been obtained, while the untreated ones Up to date, amorphous silicon solar cells with an
showed poor performances with the efficiency of only initial efficiency of 4.8% have been obtained on PET/ITO
2.3%-2.8%. substrates at low temperature of 125·C.

978-1-4244-2950-9/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 000295

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by the National High
Technology Research and Development Program of China
(No.2009AA05Z422) & the TianJin Research Foundation
for Basic Research, China (Grant No. 08JCZDJC22200)

REFERENCES
[1] Ichikawa Y, Yoshida T, Hama T, et aI., "Production
technology for amorphous silicon-based flexible solar
cells". Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, 66, 2001, pp.
107.

[2] C. Guillen, J. Herrero. "Structural, optical and electrical

characteristics of ITO thin films deposited by sputtering on
different polyester substrates", Materials Chemistry and
Physics, 2008, in press.

[3] K. Pandiyaraj, V. Selvarajan, R. Deshmukh, et al. "The

effect of glow discharge plasma on the surface properties
of Poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film", Surface &
Coatings Technology, 202, 2008, pp. 4218.

[4] U. Das, P. Chaudhuri, S. Kshirsagar, et al. "Effect of

argon dilution on the structure of microcrystalline silicon
deposited from silane", J. Appl. Phys. 80 (9), 1996, pp.
5389.

978-1-4244-2950-9/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 000296