Title :
Improvements in stability of a-silicon solar cells through the use of bandgap grading
Author :
Dalal, Vikram L. ; Baldwin, Greg ; Garikepati, P.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA, USA
Abstract :
The authors examine the causes of instability in a-Si:H solar cells, and use a graded bandgap design, combined with high temperature deposition of a-Si:H to achieve both high performance and higher stability. They show that in order to achieve good devices at high temperatures, the design of appropriate buffer layers between p and i, and the deposition of the p layer are both important. They also show that interfaces play a major role in degradation
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; elemental semiconductors; energy gap; hydrogen; p-n heterojunctions; plasma deposited coatings; plasma deposition; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor doping; semiconductor thin films; silicon; solar cells; RF glow discharge deposition; a-Si:H solar cells; bandgap grading; buffer layers; degradation; design; fabrication; high temperature deposition; interfaces; performance; stability; testing; thin film semiconductor; Buffer layers; Degradation; Helium; High performance computing; Microelectronics; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Plasma stability; Plasma temperature; Spontaneous emission;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1993., Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE
Conference_Location :
Louisville, KY
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-1220-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1993.347116
