Title :
Voc improvement of evaporated SPC thin-film Si solar cells on glass by rapid thermal annealing
Author :
Terry, Mason L. ; Straub, Axel ; Inns, Daniel ; Song, Dengyuan ; Aberle, Armin G.
Author_Institution :
Centre of Excellence for Adv. Silicon Photovoltaics & Photonics, New South Wales Univ., Sydney, NSW, Australia
Abstract :
Rapid thermal processing has predominantly been developed for wafer-based devices yet also has great potential for low-temperature devices such as thin-film polycrystalline silicon (pc-Si) on glass solar cells. The present paper investigates the impact of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on thin-film pc-Si solar cells on glass made by evaporation of a-Si and subsequent solid-phase crystallization (SPC). These devices are referred to by us as EVA cells (SPC of evaporated a-Si). RTA parameter variations are performed to determine optimum values for point defect removal and dopant activation, and to maximize the open-circuit voltage (Voc). Upon hydrogenation in a RF PECVD hydrogen plasma, a 1-Sun Voc of 443 mV is realized. Through optimization, a Voc of 500 mV is clearly within the reach of the EVA technology.
Keywords :
crystallisation; elemental semiconductors; evaporation; hydrogenation; plasma CVD; point defects; rapid thermal annealing; silicon; solar cells; thin film devices; 443 mV; 500 mV; RF PECVD hydrogen plasma; Si-SiO2; SiO2; dopant activation; evaporated SPC thin-film solar cells; glass solar cells; hydrogenation; open-circuit voltage; point defect; rapid thermal annealing; solid-phase crystallization; thin-film polycrystalline silicon; wafer-based devices; Crystallization; Glass; Photovoltaic cells; Rapid thermal annealing; Rapid thermal processing; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon; Thin film devices; Transistors; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8707-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488294
