Title :
Substrate dependent growth of microcrystalline silicon
Author :
Bailly, Mark ; Carpenter, Joe V. ; Holman, Zachary ; Bowden, Stuart
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electr., Comput. & Energy Eng., Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ, USA
Abstract :
Silicon (Si) heterojunction solar cells with efficiencies approaching 24.7% are poised to replace Si diffused junction solar cells. To further improve their efficiency, microcrystalline Si (μc-Si) could replace the amorphous Si (a-Si) emitter layer, thus improving the effective doping and increasing transparency. This improvement in efficiency would come at little additional cost and could be accomplished by altering the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) conditions. A μc-Si film was deposited on glass, a-Si, c-Si, silicon dioxide, and sapphire. When integrated over the AM 1.5G spectrum, the a-Si:H film absorbs 3 mA/cm2 the 50% crystalline μc-Si:H film absorbs 1.7 mA/cm2.
Keywords :
elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; plasma CVD; semiconductor doping; semiconductor growth; semiconductor heterojunctions; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; transparency; AM 1.5G spectrum; Al2O3; PECVD; Si:H; SiO2; amorphous emitter layer; crystalline film; effective doping; glass; microcrystalline silicon; plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition; sapphire; silicon diffused junction solar cells; silicon dioxide; silicon heterojunction solar cells; substrate dependent growth; transparency; Doping; Films; Glass; Heterojunctions; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Substrates; amorphous materials; heterojunction; microcrystals; photovoltaic cells; silicon; substrates;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 2014 IEEE 40th
Conference_Location :
Denver, CO
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2014.6925130
