ALD Towards Stable and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells are heavily researched due to their potential to offer both high conversion efficiency and low cost. However, so far, environmental device stability is a major issue. Many avenues to improve the stability of these cells are being investigated with the added constraint of retaining or reaching a high efficiency. One avenue that is seen as very promising is the use of inorganic thin films in the design of the device.

ALD with its excellent control of film growth and high-quality films is seen as a key technology to this end. Mostly for research but also for pilot-production, there is a desire for flexible tools with wide processing range and both plasma and thermal capabilities. Oxford Instruments FlexAL and OpAL tools are ideally suited in this respect. The goal of this white paper is to give a practical overview on what ALD is and how it can be used to benefit perovskite solar cells.

To illustrate these benefits we will refer to some recent publications where Oxford Instruments equipment is utilised.