Ag Nanodots Emitters Embedded in a Nanocrystalline Thin Film Deposited on Crystalline Si Solar Cells

Abstract

We fabricated crystalline Si solar cells with the inclusion of various Ag nanodots into the additional emitters of nanocrystallite Si thin films. The fabricated process was carried out on the emitter surface of p-n junction for the textured p-type wafer. The Ag thin films were deposited on emitter surfaces and annealed at various temperatures. The amorphous Si layers were also deposited on the Ag annealed surfaces by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition and then the deposited layers were doped by the second n-type doping process to form an additional emitter. From the characterization, both the Ag nanodots and the deposited amorphous Si thin films strongly reduce photo-reflectances in a spectral region between 200-400 nm. After embedding Ag nanodots in nanocrystallite Si thin films, a conversion efficiency of the sample with added emitter was achieved to 15.1%, which is higher than the 14.1% of the reference sample and the 14.7% of the de-posited sample with a-Si:H thin film after the Ag annealing process. The additional nanocrystallite emitter on crystalline Si with Ag nanodots enhances cell properties.