The use of plasma emission diagnostics to improve the performance of large-area a-Si PV modules

Author

Carlson, D.E. ; DiColli, M. ; Jackson, F. ; Ganguly, G. ; Bennett, M.

Author_Institution

North America Technol. Center, BP Solar, Toano, VA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

1106

Lastpage

1109

Abstract

We have developed an in-situ diagnostic system that utilizes optical emission spectroscopy (OES) in conjunction with an array of fiber optic probes to measure the spatial distribution of plasmas during the fabrication of amorphous silicon (a-Si) PV modules. The uniformity of the plasma emission was influenced by structural changes in the plasma electrode assembly that can occur with heating and by variations in the substrate-electrode spacing that can occur with warped and misaligned substrates or electrodes. This diagnostic system has been used to improve our deposition reactor design and to optimize the deposition conditions for the fabrication of high performance thin-film tandem modules.

Keywords

amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; plasma CVD; plasma diagnostics; semiconductor growth; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; Si; amorphous silicon; deposition conditions; large-area a-Si PV modules; optical emission spectroscopy; plasma emission diagnostics; Amorphous silicon; Electrodes; Optical arrays; Optical device fabrication; Optical fibers; Plasma diagnostics; Plasma measurements; Probes; Spectroscopy; Stimulated emission;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE

ISSN

1060-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7471-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190799

Filename

1190799