Title :
Hydrogen-plasma reactive flush for a-Si:H and a-SiGe:H solar cell fabrication
Author :
Tsuo, Y.S. ; Xu, Y. ; Crandall, Richard S. ; Han, Daxing ; Qiu, C. ; Pankove, J.I.
Author_Institution :
Solar Energy Res. Inst., Golden, CO, USA
Abstract :
An investigation is made of the effects of using a hydrogen plasma to reactively flush the reactor chamber between the p and i-layer depositions in fabricating solar cells of glass/SnO2:F/p(a-SiC:H)-i-n(a-Si:H)/metal in a single-chamber, glow-discharge deposition system. The i layer is either intrinsic a-Si:H or a-SiGe:H. Solar cells made with the hydrogen-plasma flush process show improvements in short-wavelength responses and overall conversion efficiency. Photoluminescence measurements show reduction of defects at the interface of p and i layers by the hydrogen-plasma flush. The hydrogen-plasma process shifts the emission peak to higher energies by 25 meV, which indicates reduced disorder in a-Si:H
Keywords :
Ge-Si alloys; amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; hydrogen; silicon; solar cells; H2 plasma reactive flush; amorphous Si:H solar cells; amorphous SiGe:H solar cells; overall conversion efficiency; photoluminescence measurements; semiconductor; short-wavelength responses; solar cell fabrication; Boron; Fabrication; Hydrogen; Inductors; Optical buffering; Optical pumping; PIN photodiodes; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Radio frequency;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE
Conference_Location :
Kissimmee, FL
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1990.111843
