Low Damage Scalable Pulsed Laser Deposition of SnO₂ for p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has already been adopted as a low damage deposition technique of transparent conducting oxides on top of sensitive organic charge transport layers in optoelectronic devices. Herein, SnO2 deposition is demonstrated as buffer layer in p-i-n perovskite solar cells (PSCs) via wafer-scale (4 inch) PLD at room temperature. The PLD SnO2 properties, its interface with perovskite/C-60, and device performance are compared to atomic layer deposited (ALD) SnO2, i.e., state-of-the-art buffer layer in perovskite-based single junction and tandem photovoltaics. The PLD SnO2-based solar cells exhibit on par efficiencies (17.8%) with that of SnO2 fabricated using ALD. The solvent-free room temperature processing and wafer-scale approach of PLD open up possibilities for buffer layer formation with increased deposition rates while mitigating potential thermal or physical damage to the top organic layers. This is a promising outlook for fully physical vapor-processed halide PSCs and optoelectronic devices requiring low thermal budget.