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Growth of Large Grain Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Film on Soda-lime Glass at Low Temperature for Solar Cell Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2011

K. Wang  and
K. H. Wong
K. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics and Materials Research Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
K. H. Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics and Materials Research Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
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Abstract

High quality polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin film solar cell was successfully fabricated on soda-lime glass substrates by electron beam (Ebeam) evaporation at low processing temperature. The initial poly-Si seed layer (p+-type 0.5 μm thick) was grown via the aluminum induced crystallization (AIC) method at 450 °C. Prominent interdiffusion and Si crystallization have been observed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that (111) is the dominating crystalline orientation. Post annealing at 450 °C for six hours has produced densely packed Si grains with dimension of more than 10 μm in the plane of the film. Non-destructive Raman spectroscopy reveals the remarkable crystalline improvement for samples after thermal treatment. After removing the top diffused Al by chemical means, an absorber layer (p-type) of 0.9 μm thick was subsequently deposited onto the seed layer by Ebeam evaporation at 500 °C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed good homo-epitaxial growth. Without breaking the high vacuum, an n-type amorphous Si (a-Si) layer (0.7 μm thick) was coated onto the absorber layer to form p-n junction. The corresponding I-V characteristics suggest that our low temperature processing technique is applicable for production of poly-Si thin film solar cell on low cost substrates.

Keywords

polycrystalSiAl
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1321: Symposium A – Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology , 2011 , mrss11-1321-a06-12
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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