Title :
Properties of sputtered amorphous silicon/crystalline silicon solar cells
Author :
Jagannathan, B. ; Anderson, W.A.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., State Univ. of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA
Abstract :
DC magnetron sputtering of amorphous silicon (a-Si), using an n-type silicon target, onto p-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) substrates was found to result in heterojunction solar cells. The process yielded 10.7% efficient solar cells, having a short-circuit current density (j sc) of 34 mA/cm2 and an open circuit voltage (V oc) of 0.55 volts. The a-Si/c-Si structure had good junction characteristics, having a zero bias depletion width of 0.65 μm in c-Si. The photovoltaic (PV) properties of the devices have been investigated for a-Si thickness, c-Si resistivity and substrate temperature. The amorphous/crystalline interface was found to be a limiting factor in device performance, and this was studied by both processing and electrical tests. The effect of interface traps due to sputtering induced damage has been studied by thermally stimulated capacitance (TSCAP) measurements
Keywords :
amorphous semiconductors; current density; elemental semiconductors; p-n heterojunctions; semiconductor device testing; silicon; solar cells; sputter deposition; sputtered coatings; 0.55 V; 0.65 mum; 10.7 percent; DC magnetron sputtering; Si-Si; a-Si/c-Si solar cells; device performance; heterojunction solar cells; interface traps; junction characteristics; open circuit voltage; photovoltaic properties; resistivity; short-circuit current density; sputtering induced damage; substrate temperature; thermally stimulated capacitance measurements; thickness; zero bias depletion width; Amorphous magnetic materials; Amorphous silicon; Circuits; Crystallization; Current density; Heterojunctions; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Sputtering; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE
Conference_Location :
Washington, DC
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-3166-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.1996.564061
