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Correlation of Hydrogen Dilution Profiling to Material Structure and Device Performance of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Baojie Yan ,
Guozhen Yue ,
Yanfa Yan ,
Chun-Sheng Jiang ,
Charles W. Teplin ,
Jeffrey Yang  and
Subhendu Guha
Baojie Yan
Affiliation:
byan@uni-solar.com, Untied Solar Ovonic LLC, Research and Development, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States, 248-519-5304, 248-362-4442
Guozhen Yue
Affiliation:
gyue@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
Yanfa Yan
Affiliation:
yanfa_yan@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Chun-Sheng Jiang
Affiliation:
Chun_Sheng_Jiang@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Charles W. Teplin
Affiliation:
Charles_Teplin@nrel.gov, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, United States
Jeffrey Yang
Affiliation:
jyang@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
Subhendu Guha
Affiliation:
sguha@uni-solar.com, United Solar Ovonic LLC, 1100 West Maple Road, Troy, MI, 48084, United States
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Abstract

We present a systematic study on the correlation of hydrogen dilution profiles to structural properties materials and solar cell performance in nc-Si:H solar cells. We deposited nc-Si:H single-junction solar cells using a modified very high frequency (VHF) glow discharge technique on stainless steel substrates with various profiles of hydrogen dilution in the gas mixture during deposition. The material properties were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, X-TEM, AFM, and C-AFM. The solar cell performance correlates well with the material structures. Three major conclusions are made based on the characterization results. First, the optimized nc-Si:H material does not show an incubation layer, indicating that the seeding layer is well optimized and works as per design. Second, the nanocrystalline evolution is well controlled by hydrogen dilution profiling in which the hydrogen dilution ratio is dynamically reduced during the intrinsic layer deposition. Third, the best nc-Si:H single-junction solar cell was made using a proper hydrogen dilution profile, which caused a nanocrystalline distribution close to uniform throughout the thickness, but with a slightly inverse nanocrystalline evolution. We have used the optimized hydrogen dilution profiling and improved the nc-Si:H solar cell performance significantly. As a result, we have achieved an initial active-area cell efficiency of 9.2% with a nc-Si:H single-junction structure, and 15.4% with an a-Si:H/a-SiGe:H/nc-Si:H triple-junction solar cell structure.

Keywords

nanostructurephotovoltaicplasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD) (deposition)
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1066: Symposium A – Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology—2008 , 2008 , 1066-A03-03
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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References

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