TY  - EJOU
AU  - Handor, Sana 
AU  - Manoua, Mohamed 
AU  - Sahlaoui, Mohamed 
AU  - Hrostea, Laura 
AU  - Adar, Mustapha 
AU  - Sajieddine, Mohammed 
AU  - Leontie, Liviu 
AU  - Razouk, Abdelati 

TI  - Investigation of Sputtered TiO<sub><b>2</b></sub> Thin Films and Modeling of TiO<sub><b>2</b></sub>-Based Heterojunctions with p-Si and p-GaAs
T2  - Energy Engineering

PY  - 
VL  - 
IS  - 
SN  - 1546-0118

AB  - In this study, thin films of titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) were deposited onto glass and indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates at room temperature, using plasma-assisted pulsed DC sputtering with a 99.9% pure stoichiometric TiO<sub>2</sub> target. Our research aims to investigate the influence of film thickness on the optical, structural, and morphological properties of TiO<sub>2</sub> nanostructured thin films, as well as its impact on the photovoltaic performance of heterojunctions where TiO<sub>2</sub> serves as the emitter. Using advanced PRISA software, parameters such as refractive index, film thickness, and band gap energy were determined. Spectrophotometry analysis shows that TiO<sub>2</sub> thin film samples exhibited up to 90% optical transparency in the UV-Vis spectral region. Using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed an amorphous phase, particularly at lower scan angles, while atomic force microscopy (AFM) images show an homogeneous surface of deposited films with low roughness. A notable reduction in the optical band gap was observed with increasing film thickness. Finally, numerical simulations of TiO<sub>2</sub>/p-Si and TiO<sub>2</sub>/p-GaAs heterojunction Solar cells, performed using Atlas SILVACO software, predict promising photovoltaic performance based on the optical data of the elaborated TiO<sub>2</sub> thin films.
KW  - Titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>); magnetron sputtering (MS); PRISA; Atlas SILVACO; TiO<sub>2</sub> based heterojunctions; solar cell

DO  - 10.32604/ee.2026.082739