The fabrication and characterization of wide‐bandgap M g Z n O : G a TCO layer via co‐sputtering technique for CIGS solar cells

MgZnO:Ga films were deposited on the glass by RF magnetron sputtering. Effects of growth temperature (from room temperature to 200°C) on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of MgZnO:Ga films were investigated. Depending on increasing of growth temperature, the films showed a low resistivity of 1.15 × 10 −3 Ω‐cm. The optimized MgZnO:Ga films exhibited a high transmittance over 85% in the near‐ultraviolet and visible region. Also, the performance of CuIn 1 − x Ga x Se 2 (CIGS) photovoltaic device fabricated with MgZnO:Ga transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer was improved by higher band gap and outstanding electron mobility. Improved short circuit current has resulted in high performance of device with energy conversion efficiency (ηe) of 10.2%. Therefore, the high conductivity and optical transmission by MgZnO:Ga films are applied to optoelectronic device as vital characteristics. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:1894–1897, 2016