Effects of Adjusting Nickel Pulse Count on NiOx Films Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition

The paper describes the preparation of NiOx films using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and analyzes their hole transport properties. During the ALD process, NiOx films with varying properties were fabricated by adjusting the number of nickel pulses in the reaction. Various characterization techniques were employed to investigate the morphology, composition, optical, and electrical properties of the films prepared with different numbers of nickel pulses. The study reveals that as the number of Ni pulses increases, the content of Ni metal and Ni (OH)2 in the NiOx films changes, and post-annealing treatment can significantly enhance the performance of the NiOx films. Finally, NiOx was used as a hole transport layer to successfully fabricate silicon solar cells, resulting in an increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 17.89% to 18.89% compared to untreated cells.