Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells at Higher Deposition Rates by the VHF-GD

Torres, P.; Meier, J.; Goetz, M.; Beck, N.; Kroll, U.; Keppner, H.; Shah, A.

doi:10.1557/proc-452-883

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Preliminary work was done by Lucovsky et al [4], and Faraji et al [5]. Subsequently, our group successfully pioneered [6][7][8] entirely microcrystalline pin-and nip-type silicon solar cells fabricated with the very high frequency (VHF) glow discharge method, thereby rapidly attaining AM 1.5 efficiencies higher than 7% [9,10]. Since then, this type of solar cell has been developed further, by our own group and by many other research groups, using different fabrication techniques for the microcrystalline layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

Shah

Meier

Vallat-Sauvain

et al. 2003

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

417

243

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This contribution describes the introduction of hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (mc-Si:H) as novel absorber material for thin-film silicon solar cells. Work done at IMT Neuch# atel in connection with deposition of mc-Si:H layers by very high frequency glow discharge deposition is related in detail. Corresponding layer properties w.r.t. material microstructure, hydrogen content, stability and electronic transport are referred to. Basic properties of single-junction, entirely microcrystalline, thin-film silicon solar cells are related: Spectral response, stability w.r.t. light-induced degradation, basic solar cell parameters (V oc ; J sc and FF) obtained by IMT Neuch# atel and by other laboratories are listed and commented; the deposition rate issue is addressed. Finally, microcrystalline/amorphous, i.e. ''micromorph'' silicon tandem solar cells, are described, together with recent developments on the research and industrial front.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

Shah

Meier

Vallat-Sauvain

et al. 2003

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

417

243

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“…Looking at the deposition rates of µc-Si:H, the VHF-GD process in itself brings sofar at least some improvement, as reported by Finger et al (15). Attempts at obtaining yet higher deposition rates are described by Torres et al (16). In this paper we present an alternative approach using argon plus hydrogen dilution of silane.…”

Section: Limits and Potential For Further Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 66%

The “Micromorph” cell: a new way to high-efficiency-low-temperature crystalline silicon thin-film cell manufacturing?

Keppner¹,

Kroll²,

Torres³

et al. 1997

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Abstract. Hydrogenated microcrystalline Silicon (µc-Si:H) produced by the VHF-GD (Very High Frequency Glow Discharge) process can be considered to be a new base material for thin-film crystalline silicon solar cells. The most striking feature of such cells, in contrast to conventional amorphous silicon technology, is their stability under lightsoaking. With respect to crystalline silicon technology, their most striking advantage is their low process temperature (220°C). The so called "micromorph" cell contains such a µc-Si:H based cell as bottom cell, whereas the top-cell consists of amorphous silicon. A stable efficiency of 10.7% (confirmed by ISE Freiburg) is reported in this paper.At present, all solar cell concepts based on thin-film crystalline silicon have a common problem to overcome: namely, too long manufacturing times. In order to help in solving this problem for the particular case of plasma-deposited µc-Si:H, results on combined argon /hydrogen dilution of the feedgas (silane) are presented. It is shown that rates as high as 9.4 Å/s can be obtained; furthermore, a first solar cell deposited with 8.7 Å/s resulted in an efficiency of 3.1%.

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“…The purifier technique [4,5] was always applied when depositing the i-layers to avoid the incorporation of the detrimental oxygen contamination which usually results in n-type layers and, thus, in poor device performances. Other deposition parameters can be found elsewhere [18]. Under these conditions, about 2 µm thick films were deposited on glass substrates (AF45 Schott) and on double-sided polished <100> Si wafers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, an immediate transfer on opaque substrates, such as aluminium, stainless steel, etc. is quite straightforward [18,19]. The thickness measurement was done as close as possible to the active cell area with a surface profiler (Alpha Step 200 from Tencor Instruments).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast deposited microcrystalline silicon solar cells

Torres

Meier

Kroll

et al.

Conference Record of the Twenty Sixth IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1997

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Microcrystalline silicon solar cells with AM 1.5 conversion efficiency above 5 % have been deposited at deposition rates in excess of 10 Å/s. This is achieved by VHF-GD at an excitation frequency of 130 MHz. By increasing the plasma power at a dilution ratio of 7.5 % silane/(silane+hydrogen) there first appears a morphological transition from a-Si:H to µc-Si:H and then an increase in deposition rate. Crystallographic properties and solar cell efficiencies vary thereby in a significant manner.

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Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells at Higher Deposition Rates by the VHF-GD

Cited by 10 publications

References 18 publications

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

Material and solar cell research in microcrystalline silicon

The “Micromorph” cell: a new way to high-efficiency-low-temperature crystalline silicon thin-film cell manufacturing?

Fast deposited microcrystalline silicon solar cells

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