Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:56:07.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

c-Si (n +)/a-Si Alloy/Pd Schottky Barrier Device for the Effective Evaluation of Photovoltaic Performance of a-Si Alloy Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

X. Deng
Affiliation:
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
S. J. Jones
Affiliation:
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
J. Evans
Affiliation:
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
M. Izu
Affiliation:
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., 1675 West Maple Road, Troy, Michigan 48084
Get access

Abstract

The Schottky barrier device with a metal/a-Si (n+) /a-Si alloy/metal structure has been widely used as an alternative evaluation tool for the photovoltaic performance of a-Si alloy material since it more reliably reflects the carrier transport in a solar cell than the conventional material characterization tool such as PDS, CPM, and SSPG, and is easier to be fabricated compared with a complete nip solar cell. However, a multiple chamber device making system is still needed to fabricate such a device since one does not want to deposit the a-Si intrinsic material to be studied together with an n+ layer in the same chamber. We have explored the use of a Schottky barrier device deposited on heavily doped n-type crystalline wafer substrate, c-Si (n+) /a-Si alloy/metal, as an evaluation tool for a-Si alloy materials. In this device, besides the evaporation of a thin semi-transparent metal layer, only the active a-Si alloy layer needs to be deposited using the plasma enhanced or other deposition techniques. We have compared the performance of such a device with that of reference n-i-p solar cells deposited at the same time and demonstrated that the FF measured under weak red light show a good correlation between these two types of devices. Therefore the c-Si (n+) /a-Si alloy/metal device can be used as a convenient technique to reliably evaluate the material performance in a solar cell device.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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. Yang, J., Xu, X., Guha, S., MRS proc. 336, 687 (1994).Google Scholar
2. Stradins, P., Fritzsche, H. and Tran, M., MRS Proc. this volume.Google Scholar
3. Prabha, S., Narasimhan, K. L., and Sharma, D. K., J. Appl. Phys., 71, 5727 (1992).Google Scholar
4. Hack, M. and Shur, M., J. Appl. Phys., 58, 997 (1985).Google Scholar
5. Wronski, C. R., Carlson, D. E., and Daniel, R. E., Appl. Phys. Lett., 29, 602 (1976).Google Scholar
6. Madan, A., McGill, J., Czubatyj, W., Yang, J. and Ovshinsky, S. R., Appl. Phys. Lett., 37, 826 (1980).Google Scholar
7. Wronski, C. R., Abeles, B., Cody, G. D., and Tiedje, T., Appl. Phys. Lett., 37, 97 (1980).Google Scholar
8. Krishna, K. V., Guha, S., and Narasimhan, K. L., Sol. Cells 4, 153 (1981).Google Scholar
9. Hack, M., McGill, J., Czubatyj, W., Singh, R., Shur, M., and Madan, A., J. Appl. Phys., 53, 6270 (1982).Google Scholar
10. Fortmann, C. M., Lange, S., Hicks, M. and Wronski, C. R., J. Appl. Phys., 64, 4219 (1988).Google Scholar
11. Kanicki, J., Properties of Metal/Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Interfaces, in Amorphous and Microcrystalline Semiconductor Devices, Ed. by J. Kanicki, published by Artech House, 1992, pp 189281, and the references therein.Google Scholar