Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T01:35:53.684Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

P-doped μc-Si:H films at a very low thickness and high deposition rate: Suitable for application in solar cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Debajyoti Das  and
Madhusudan Jana
Debajyoti Das*
Affiliation:
Energy Research Unit, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata—700 032, India
Madhusudan Jana
Affiliation:
Energy Research Unit, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata—700 032, India
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: erdd@mahendra.iacs.res.in
Get access

Abstract

Using Ar-induced promotion of microcrystallization to the Si:H network, P-doped μc-Si:H films were prepared at a deposition rate of 50 Å/min. However, a large fraction of an amorphous component was identified, and a definite structural inhomogeneity was evident in the Si:H matrix. Efficient defect elimination, structural reorientation, and grain growth were performed, and an improved microcrystalline network with enhanced dopability was attained by introducing H2 to the Ar-assisted SiH4 plasma and by using their individual advantages to facilitate the microcrystallization process. A high conductivity of approximately 2 × 101 S cm−1 and a homogeneous distribution of micrograins of average diameter approximately 80 Å, contributing to a crystalline volume fraction of 67% in the matrix, were obtained. A significant achievement was to maintain microcrystallinity at a very low thickness of the bulk layer. The n-type μc-Si:H film of dark conductivity approximately 100 S cm−1 was realized at a thickness of approximately 350 Å with a deposition rate of 24 Å/min. Using this material at the tunnel junction as well as at the bottom layer of a double-junction a-Si solar cell, a conversion efficiency of 11.7% was attained without compromising the other parameters.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 18 , Issue 10 , October 2003 , pp. 2371 - 2378
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Uchida, Y., Ichimura, T., Ueno, M., and Haruki, H., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 21, L586 (1986).Google Scholar
2.Hamakawa, Y., Matsumoto, Y., Hirata, G., and Okamoto, H., in Materials Issues in Microcrystalline Semiconductors, edited by Fauchet, P.M., Tanaka, K., and Tsui, C.C. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. 164, 291Pittsburgh, PA, 1990).Google Scholar
3.Prasad, K., Finger, F., Curtins, H., Shah, A., and Baumann, J., in Materials Issues in Microcrystalline Semiconductors, edited by Fauchet, P.M., Tanakas, K., and Tsui, C.C. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. 164, 27Pittsburgh, PA, 1990).Google Scholar
4.Lee, K.E., Lee, W.H., Shin, S., and Lee, C., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 35, L1241 (1996).Google Scholar
5.Yamamoto, Y., Suganuma, S., Ito, M., Hori, M., and Goto, T., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 36, 4664 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Shirai, H., Sakuma, Y., Moriya, Y., Fukai, C., and Ueyama, H., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 38, 6629 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Das, D., Jana, M., and Barua, A.K., J. Appl. Phys. 89, 3041 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Jana, M., Das, D., and Barua, A.K., J. Appl. Phys. 91, 5442 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Das, D., Jana, M., Barua, A.K., Chattopadhyay, S., Chen, L.C., and Chen, K.H., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 41, L229 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Jana, M., Das, D., and Barua, A.K., Sol. Eng. Mater. Solar Cells 71, 407 (2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Jana, M., Das, D., Kshirsagar, S.T., and Barua, A.K., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 38, L1087 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Das, D., Jana, M., and Barua, A.K., Proc. of 28th IEEE Specialists PV Conf, Alaska (2000).Google Scholar
13. Ch. Hollenstein, Kroll, U., Howling, A.A., Dutta, J., Dorier, J-L., Meier, J., Tscharner, R., and Shah, A., Proc. 11th European PVSEC (Montreux) (1992), p. 132.Google Scholar
14.Kushner, M.J., J. Appl. Phys. 63, 2532 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Kawasaki, H., Ohkura, H., Fukuzawa, T., Shiratani, M., Watanabe, Y., Yamamoto, Y., Suganuma, S., Hori, M., and Goto, T., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 36, 4985 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Robertson, R. and Gallagher, A., J. Appl. Phys. 59, 3402 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Das, D., Shirai, H., Hanna, J., and Shimizu, I., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 30, L239 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Shirai, H., Das, D., Hanna, J., and Shimizu, I., Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1096 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Robertson, R. and Gallagher, A., J. Chem. Phys. 85, 3623 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Veprek, S. and Sarrott, F.A., Phys. Rev. B 36, 3344 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Das, D., Phys. Rev. B 51, 10729 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Matsuda, A., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 59–60, 767 (1983).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23.Barua, A.K., Jana, M., Das, D., and Sarker, A., Proc. of 17th European PVSECE, Munich (2001).Google Scholar