A carbonaceous thin film made by CVD and its application for a carbon/n-type silicon (C/n-Si) photovoltaic cell Original Research Article

A carbonaceous thin film was made by CVD of 2,5-dimethyl-p-benzoquinone at temperatures between 500 and 1000 °C and its structural and electronic properties have been studied. The carbonaceous thin film made at 500 °C has a energy bandgap of 0.25–0.3 eV and a positive Hall coefficient of 5 × 10−5 m3 C−1 belong to a p-type semiconductor. A photovoltaic cell with carbonaceous thin film/n-type silicon (C/n-Si) was fabricated by depositing the carbonaceous thin film on an n-type silicon substrate at 500 °C. The C/n-Si photovoltaic cell has a hetero-type junction with a junction barrier of 0.54eV and a depletion layer of 1.1 μm in thickness at zero bias. Under a simulated light of 15 mW · cm−2, the C/n-Si photovoltaic cell gives a power conversion efficiency of 6.45%.