Preparation of ZnO:B films with different optical haze and their influence on a-Si:H/$\mu$c-Si:H layers formation and light trapping in thin film silicon solar cells

Hydrogenated micromorph silicon layers (a-Si:H/$\mu$c-Si:H) were prepared on ZnO:B transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films with different surface morphology (roughness and optical haze value). The required structure of zinc oxide films was obtained varying their thickness. This study reveals the dependence of structural and optical properties of Si layers on the ZnO topography. The minor influence of the substrate surface morphology on the silicon Raman crystallinity factor was observed. It was $5\%$ decreased, when the TCO haze value was increased from $2$ to $\le 40\%$, while the light trapping properties were significantly increased (the absorption coefficient of ZnO:B/a-Si:H/$\mu$c-Si:H was grown from $50$ to $70\%$). The optimum combination of structural and optical properties was found at $\le 20\%$ TCO haze level.