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Correlation of Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Silicon Microstructure and Solar Cell Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Keda Wang ,
Anthon Canning ,
J.R. Weinberg-Wolf ,
E.C.T. Harley ,
Daxing Han ,
Baojie Yan ,
Guozhen Yue ,
Jeffrey Yang  and
Subhendu Guha
Keda Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255
Anthon Canning
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255
J.R. Weinberg-Wolf
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255
E.C.T. Harley
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255
Daxing Han
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255
Baojie Yan
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation., 1100 W Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
Guozhen Yue
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation., 1100 W Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
Jeffrey Yang
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation., 1100 W Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
Subhendu Guha
Affiliation:
United Solar Ovonic Corporation., 1100 W Maple Road, Troy, MI 48084
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Abstract

We used Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy to study the relationship between the material properties and the solar cell performance of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H). The crystalline volume fraction (fc) was deduced from the Raman spectrum. Generally, a high fc leads to a high short circuit current density and a low open circuit voltage. PL spectra were measured using 632.8-nm and 442-nm laser lines. There are two distinguished PL peaks at 80 K, one at ∼1.4 eV originating from the amorphous region, while the other at = 0.9 eV from the nanocrystalline grain boundary regions. Generally, the intensity fraction of this low energy PL peak, IPLc/(IPLa+IPLc), was larger for 442-nm than 632.8-nm excitation, indicating an increase in crystallinity along the growth direction. However, for the best initial performance cells obtained by H2 dilution profiling and the i/p buffer layer, the intensity fraction IPLc/(IPLa+IPLc) decreased from the bulk to the topi/p interface. The Raman and PL results give insight into the correlation between the microstructures and the cell performance, and verified that properly-controlled crystallinity in the intrinsic layer and buffer layer at the i/p interface layer are important for optimizing nc-Si:H solar cells.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 808: Symposium A – Amorphous and Nanocrystaline Silicon Science and Technology-2004 , 2004 , A9.53
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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References

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