Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:56:36.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Amorphous Silicon-Carbon Alloys for Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1993

Yuan-Min Li
Yuan-Min Li*
Affiliation:
Solarex Corporation, Thin Film Division, 826 Newtown-Yardley Road, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 18940 USA
Get access

Abstract

Recent efforts to optimize undoped, glow-discharge hydrogenated amorphous silicon-carbon alloys (a-SiC:H) with 1.9-2.0 eV bandgaps for solar cell applications are reviewed. Hydrogen dilution coupled with relatively low substrate temperatures (below 200 °C) have led to great improvements in the optical and phototransport properties of a-SiC:H films. The issue of alternative carbon feedstocks other than methane (CH4) will be explored. The improved a-SiC:H alloys have resulted in solar cells with high open circuit voltages (V∞ > 1.0 volt) and high fill factors (> 0.7). Further, the a-SiC:H solar cell instability upon prolonged light exposure has been much reduced. Correlation will be made between the properties of bulk undoped a-SiC:H films and the performance of p-i-nsingle junction solar cells using corresponding a-SiC:H thin i-layers.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 297: Symposium A – Amorphous Silicon Technology - 1993 , 1993 , 803
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.See, for instance, Bullot, J. and Schmidt, M.P., Phys. Stat. Sol. (b) 143,345 (1987).Google Scholar
2.See e.g., Catalano, A., p.9 in Amorphous and Microcrystalline Semiconductor Devices: Optoelectronic Devices,edited by Kanicki, J., Artech House, Boston and London, 1991.Google Scholar
3. Tawada, Y., Okamoto, H., and Hamakawa, Y., Appl. Phys. Lett.39, 237 (1981); J. Appl. Phys. 53, 5273 (1982); Proc. 15th IEEE PVSC, 245 (1981); Int. J. Solar Energy1, 125 (1982).Google Scholar
4. Arya, R.R., Catalano, A., and Oswald, R.S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 49, 1089 (1986).Google Scholar
5. Perrin, J., Pure & Appl. Chem. 62,1681 (1990).Google Scholar
6. Matsuda, A. and Tanaka, K., J. Non-Cryst. Solids 97&98, 1367 (1987); Also see Matsuda, A., Yamaoka, T., Wolff, S., Koyama, M., Imanishi, Y., Kataoka, H., Matsuura, H., and Tanaka, K., J. Appl. Phys. 60,4025 (1986).Google Scholar
7. Matsuda, A., p.9 in Glow-Discharge Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon, edited by Tanaka, K., KTK Scientific Publishers, Tokyo (1989); also in Proc. ICACSC ‘90 [Springer Proc. Phys.56] (1990).Google Scholar
8. Street, R.A., Phys. Rev. B 44, 10610 (1991); J. Non-Cryst. Solids 137&138, 645 (1991); Also see a related discussion in Physica B 170, 69 (1991).Google Scholar
9. Dickson, C.R. and Carlson, D.E., U.S. Patent # 4,690,830 (1987).Google Scholar
10. Ritter, D., Weiser, K., and Zeldov, E., J. Appl. Phys. 62, 4563 (1987). For a recent review with additional references, see I. Balberg, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol.258, 693 (1992).Google Scholar
11.See, for example, Schmidbaur, H. and Hager, R., Germany Patent # 3,941,997 (1990).Google Scholar
12. Folsch, J., Rubel, H., and Schade, H., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 258, 631 (1992).Google Scholar
13. Solomon, I., Schmidt, M.P., and Tran-Quoc, H., Phys. Rev. B38, 9895 (1988).Google Scholar
14. Beyer, W., Hager, R., Schmidbaur, H., and Winterling, G., Appl. Phys. Lett. 54, 1666 (1989).Google Scholar
15. Li, Y.-M., and Fieselmann, B.F., Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1720 (1991).Google Scholar
16. Li, Y.-M., Fieselmann, B.F., and Catalano, A., Proc. 22nd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 1231, IEEE, New York (1991); Springer Proc. Phys. Vol. 71, 229 (1992).Google Scholar
17. Delplancke, M.P., Powers, J.M., Vandentop, G.J., Salmeron, M., and Somorjai, G.A., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A9, 450 (1991).Google Scholar
18.See, e.g., Rynders, S.W., Scheeline, A., and Bohn, P.W., J. Appl. Phys. 69, 2951 (1991).Google Scholar
19. Li, Y.-M., Catalano, A., and Fieselmann, B.F., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 258, 923, edited by Thompson, M.J., Hamakawa, Y., LeComber, P.G., Madan, A., and Schiff, E.A., MRS (1992).Google Scholar
20. Mahan, A.H., Raboisson, P., Williamson, D.L., and Tsu, R., Solar Cells 297,117 (1987).Google Scholar
21. Lu, Y., An, I., Wronski, C.R., and Collins, R.W., in this volume of Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Google Scholar
22. von Roedern, B. and Madan, A., Phil. Mag. B63, 293 (1991).Google Scholar
23. Robertson, J., Phil. Mag. B66, 615 (1992).Google Scholar
24. Tsuge, S., Hishikawa, Y., Okamoto, S., Sasaki, M., Tsuda, S., Nakano, S., and Kuwano, Y., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 258, 869 (1992).Google Scholar
25. Lucovsky, G., Solid State Communi. 29, 571 (1979).Google Scholar
26. Alvarez, F., Sebastiani, M., Pozzilli, F., Fiorini, P., and Evangelisti, F., J. Appl. Phys. 71, 267 (1992).Google Scholar
27. Hack, M. and Shur, M., J. Appl. Phys. 58, 997 (1985).Google Scholar
28. Li, Y.-M., Phys. Rev. B42, 9025 (1990).Google Scholar
29. Rose, A., Concepts in Photocond. and Allied Problems, Krieger Publi. Co., New York (1978).Google Scholar
30. Rahman, M.M., Yang, C.Y., Sugiarto, D., Byrne, A.S., Ju, M., Tran, K., Lui, K.H., Asano, T., and Stickle, W.F., J. Appl. Phys. 67, 7065 (1990).Google Scholar
31. Lu, H.Y. and Petrich, M.A., J. Appl. Phys. 72, 2054 (1992).Google Scholar
32. Asano, A., Ichimura, T., and Sakai, H., J. Appl. Phys. 65, 2439 (1989).Google Scholar
33. Yoshida, T., Maruyama, K., Nabeta, O., Ichikawa, Y., Sakai, H., and Uchida, Y., Proc. 19th IEEE PVSC, 1095 (1987); Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 149, 477 (1989).Google Scholar
34. Nomoto, K., Takeda, Y., Moriuchi, S., Sannomiya, H., Okuno, T., Yokota, A., Kaneiwa, M., Itoh, M., Yamamoto, Y., Nakata, Y., and Inoguchi, T., Proc. PVSEC-4, 85 (1989).Google Scholar
35. Hanaki, K., Hattori, Y., Nakabayashi, H., Yamaguchi, S., and Y. Hamakawa, Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 149, 395 (1989).Google Scholar
36. Hegedus, S.S., Proc. 20th IEEE PVSC (Las Vegas),102, IEEE, New York (1988).Google Scholar
37. Unold, T. and Cohen, J.D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 58, 723 (1991).Google Scholar
38. Stutzmann, M., Jackson, W.B., and Tsai, C.C., Phys. Rev. B32, 23 (1985).Google Scholar