Performance of p-type silicon-oxide windows in amorphous silicon solar cell

a-SiOx films have been prepared using silane and pure oxygen as reactive gases in plasma CVD system. Diborane was introduced as a doping gas to obtain p-type conduction silicon oxide. Infrared absorption spectra show the incorporation of Si–O stretch mode around 1000 cm−1. The optical bandgap increases with the oxygen to silane gas ratio, while the electrical conductivity decreases. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon solar cells have been fabricated using p-type a-SiOx with around 1.85 eV optical bandgap and conductivity greater than 10−7 S/cm. The measured current–voltage characteristics of the solar cells under 100 mW/cm2 artificial light are Voc=0.84 V, Jsc=14.7 mA/cm2, FF=0.635 with a conversion efficiency of 7.84%.