Properties of amorphous silicon solar cells fabricated from SiH2Cl2

Chlorinated intrinsic amorphous silicon films [a-Si:H(Cl)] and solar cell i-layers were fabricated using electron cyclotron resonance-assisted chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) and SiH2Cl2 source gas. n–i–p solar cells deposited on ZnO–coated SnO2 substrates had poor photovoltaic performances despite the good electronic properties measured on the a-Si:H(Cl) films. Improved open–circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.84 V and fill factor (FF) of 54% were observed in n–i–p solar cells by providing an n/i buffer layer and by using Ga-doped ZnO coated glass substrates. However, the FF improvement was still rather poor, which is thought to originate from high interface recombination in the ECR deposited solar cells. The Voc and the FF showed much stable feature against light soaking.