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Microstructures of Microcrystalline Silicon Solar Cells Prepared by Very High Frequency Glow-Discharge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

J. Dubail
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique (IMT), A.L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
E. Vallat-Sauvain
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique (IMT), A.L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
J. Meier
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique (IMT), A.L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
S. Dubail
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique (IMT), A.L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
A. Shah
Affiliation:
Institut de Microtechnique (IMT), A.L. Breguet 2, Université de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland
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Abstract

The microstructure of two different νc-Si:H solar cells was studied by Transmission Electron Microcopy (TEM). At the micrometer scale, a difference in the grain structure is observed close to the ZnO substrate: cracks are found in the cell deposited with the higher silane concentration. Surprisingly, the cell with the cracks close to the transparent conductive oxide shows the largest VOC (530 mV) and FF (68%). These first studies reveal that microstructures of fully microcrystalline silicon devices may show a quite large variation with corresponding effects in solar cell performance.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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