Higher open circuit voltages of the microcrystalline silicon bottom cell have a direct impact on the efficiency of the micromorph (μc-Si:H/a-Si:H) tandem cell. In this paper it is shown that open circuit voltages over 500 mV can be achieved leading to gc-Si:H cell efficiencies of 8.5 %. The behaviour of such cells is characterised both by the illuminated and the dark I-V characteristics in function of cell temperature. Microcrystalline cells with Voc-values higher than 500 mV and micromorph tandems possess in general a lower value of the temperature coefficient of the fill factor and thus of the efficiency, when compared to c-Si. Temperature-dependent dark I-V measurements suggest that the dominant recombination mechanism in lgc-Si:H cells is different from that prevailing in a-Si:H solar cells.

The world's highest stabilized efficiency of 9.5% (light-soaked and measured by the Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA)) for an a-Si/a-SiGe superstrate-type solar cell submodule (area: 1200 cm2) has been achieved. This value was obtained by investigating the effects of very-high hydrogen dilution of up to 54:1 (= H2: SiH4) on hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium (a-SiGe:H) deposition at a low substrate temperature (Ts). It was found that deterioration of the film properties of a-SiGe:H when Ts decreases under low hydrogen dilution conditions can be suppressed by the high hydrogen dilution. This finding probably indicates that the energy provided by hydrogen radicals substitutes for the lost energy caused by the decrease in Ts and that sufficient surface reactions can occur. In addition, results from an estimation of the hydrogen and germanium contents of a-SiGe:H suggest the occurrence of some kinds of structural variations by the high hydrogen dilution. A guideline for optimization of a-SiGe:H films for solar cells can be presented on the basis of the experimental results. The possibility of a-SiGe:H as a narrow gap material for a-Si stacked solar cells in contrast with microcrystalline silicon (μ c-Si:H) will also be discussed from various standpoints. At present, a-SiGe:H is considered to have an advantage over μ1 c-Si:H.

We have studied amorphous silicon alloy solar cells made by using a modified-very-highfrequency glow discharge at 75 MHz with a deposition rate of ∼6 Å/s. The solar cell performance is compared with those made from conventional glow discharge at 13.56 MHz with lower deposition rates. Cells made at ∼6 Å/s with 75 MHz showed comparable stabilized efficiency to those made at ∼3 Å/s with 13.56 MHz. The best performance, however, was obtained with ∼1 Å/s, including a stabilized 9.3% a-Si alloy single-junction cell employing conventional glow discharge technique. Using 75 MHz, we have achieved 11.1% and 10.0% initial active-area efficiencies for a-Si alloy and a-SiGe alloy n i p cells, respectively. An initial efficiency of 11.0% has also been obtained in a dual bandgap double-junction structure.

By contactless transient photoconductivity measurements it is shown that i a-Si:H films, both of standard quality films and annealed low temperature films, passivate the c-Si surface for electron-hole pairs generated in the c-Si substrate. Films deposited at low temperature without annealing do not lead to passivation of the c-Si surface. The injection of excess electrons from a standard a-Si:H film into c-Si with a time constant of a few microseconds and a rather high efficiency was observed. For an annealed 120°C a-Si:H film a slower and less efficient injection was measured, whereas an annealed 50°C a-Si:H shows no appreciable injection.

The series resistance limits the linearity of photodiodes and decreases the efficiency of solar cells. It is usually determined from IV-measurements for moderate and high forward current density. This method, however, provides only partial information about Rs, since the series resistance depends on the operating point. An alternative method is based on noise measurements. System noise of the measuring system with a low-noise current-voltage converter has been investigated. A new method for extraction of photodiode series resistance from noise measurements is suggested. Noise measurements are carried out for a-Si:H pin diodes. The series resistance of an amorphous pin diode has been extracted for different operating conditions using the new measurement method.

The noise spectra of hydrogenated amorphous silicon pin diodes are measured in the dark and under illumination at reverse and forward bias. The noise coefficients of 1/f noise at different operating points are determined. The superposition of the different noise mechanisms is investigated. A new empirical model and a method to calculate the noise in pin diodes is suggested. Transport and noise mechanisms are discussed.

Solar cells based on microcrystalline silicon (ptc-Si:H) have demonstrated remarkable efficiencies and have been successfully incorporated in tandem structures; however, little work has so far been devoted to the understanding of these devices. The objective of this paper is to obtain more insight into their physical functioning by extensive characterisation of μc-Si:H devices. Charge-collection experiments shows that high electric field E(x) is present throughout the entire i-layer of thick p-i-n device. Furthermore, from capacitance studies, one concludes that the electric field profile is partly concentrated at grain boundaries. In contrast with these two observations, spectral response under forward bias voltage show that thick [tc-Si:H p-i-n devices are (unlike a-Si:H p-i-n devices) not fully field-controlled.

By using the transient-null-current method, we have measured the internal electric field profiles Ei(x) near the p/i interface for two groups of solar cells: (a) a-Si:H p-i-n solar cells with varied i-layer thicknesses, and (b) a-SiGe:H cells with varied Ge content. When using an exponential function of Ei(x) to fit the experimental results, we obtained the field strength at the p/i interface E0, the screening length Lo, and the density of defect states Nd in the i-layer. The thinner the i-layer, the stronger the field strength obtained. For i-layer thickness increasing from 0.1 to 0.5 μm, the field strength E0 decreases from 1.15×105 to 2.0×104 V/cm; Lo decreases from 0.89 to 0.14 μm; and Nd is 3-4×1016 (cm3eV)−1. For the a-SiGe:H cells, as the Ge content increases from 40 to 55 %, E0 increases from 9.3×104 to 1.2×105 V/cm. The correlation of the internal electric field parameters with the cell‘s performance is discussed.

The photocurrent delivered by microcrystalline hydrogenated silicon p-i-n devices and the spectral response are analysed under different applied bias voltage. The spectral response is extended far beyond 900 nm. Under reverse bias the spectral response is high and essentially unchanged while under increasing forward bias it decreases continuously. For forward bias higher than the open circuit voltage, the usual reversal of the spectral response is not observed and the photocurrent remains negative and almost independent of the bias voltage. A heterojunction model based on the presence of additional local electric fields near the grain boundaries is presented to explain this behaviour. Those fields lead to a strong increase of the recombination at the grain boundaries decreasing the contribution from the photogenerated carriers for the secondary photocurrent. Reverse bias restores the electric field at the interfaces minimizing the influence of the local barriers.

Amorphous silicon films and solar cell i-layers were prepared from dichlorosilane(DCS) by ECR- and VHF-CVD. The hydrogen content, the chlorine content and the band gap could be controlled by varying argon and hydrogen dilution. The interaction of energetic and reactive plasma species with substrates and other previously deposited layers was studied. DCS, ECR-CVD causes darkening of TCO substrates even when buffer layers and/or doped layers were previously deposited by RF-CVD. Therefore n-i-p solar cell structures were prepared on NiCr and subsequent p-i-n solar cells were prepared with VHF-CVD which did not causeTCO reduction or other reactions in previously deposited amorphous layers. Preliminary results indicate that the VHF-CVD solar cells are at least as stable as standard amorphous silicon solar cells.

Generally higher depositions temperatures are required to prepare solar cells with narrow band gap amorphous silicon intrinsic layers. High processing temperatures require that diffusion resistant substrates and doped layer materials be developed. In the case of p-i-n solar cells both a new Ga-doped ZnO and/or semi-transparent Cr over-coated standard commercially available TCO show increased resistance to high temperature processing and it is possible to prepare efficient solar cells on these substrates at temperatures over 280 C. In most amorphous silicon i-layer cases a-SiC:H p-layers offer better diffusion resistance than microcrystalline players. However, in the case of narrow band gap amorphous silicon prepared at high temperatures using the argon treatment process [2] micro-crystalline p-layers offer significantly improved solar cell performance. Another promising approach involves the n-i-p deposition sequence, however, this case too can suffer from diffusion related problems.

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films were prepared by a layer-by-layer (LBL) argon treatment technique. Thin amorphous silicon layers are first deposited and then treated by Ar. Thick films are built up by repeatedly the process many times. By reducing the deposition rate during deposition time (T, sec), a-Si:H with the gaps narrower than 1·55eV were prepared at substrate temperature lower than 300°C. These narrow-gap films contained less than 2 at.% hydrogen and had rigid Si network. Also, these narrow gap films exhibited good light soaking stability.

Detection at room temperature of near and medium infrared radiation has been achieved by using micro-doped or micro-compensated amorphous silicon films as intermediate absorber layer in a p-n junction. Extremely low dopant concentrations in the gas mixture have been utilized to achieve micro-doping and micro-compensation. Device operation is based on transitions, induced by the infrared radiation, between extended states in the valence band and defects in the forbidden gap. The absorption process changes electron defect occupancy, giving rise to change in electric field distribution. This effect can be observed as variation of differential capacitance of the structure. Capacitance measurements, performed on two different devices with micro-doped and micro-compensated absorber layer respectively, showed sensitivity to radiation from 900 nm up to 4·5 jim.

A stabilized three color piinip sensor for high illumination conditions was developed. The spectral response of the novel device shows a maximum at 480nm, 530nm and 630nm changing the applied bias voltage from −0·2V, −2·OV to 2·OV, respectively. Only a slight influence on the device performances is observed after more than 100h light soaking under AM1·5 illumination conditions. This is achieved by employing low temperature deposited a-Si:H with high hydrogen dilution and a microcrystalline silicon layer in the top diode of the sensor. For piinip detector systems with different absorption materials in the top diode the influence of light induced degradation on the spectral response and the dark current is discussed. Furthermore, the transient behavior of the new stabilized detector is presented.

The possibility of creating an 2D X-ray sensor array on the base of a-SiN:H thin films without switching elements and an X-ray conversion layer is presented in this report. The behavior of a-SiN:H Thin-Film Diode under X-ray irradiation, its limitations, and ways of increasing long-term stability and sensitivity of the sensor are discussed.

In this paper, we discuss the various design and fabrication issues related to the process integration of a molybdenum/amorphous silicon (Mo/a-Si:H) Schottky diode and a thin film transistor (TFT), for realization of an X-ray pixel intended for large area and low energy imaging applications. Here, the Schottky diode serves as the sensor and the TFT as a switching element for charge readout. Different pixel configurations are fabricated and compared taking into consideration design aspects such as leakage current, process sequence in terms of mask count, fill factor, and mechanical integrity of various layers. Preliminary X-ray response measurements, over the range (40 – 115) kVp, yield a pixel sensitivity of (1–10) million electrons for a readout sampling period of 16·7 ms.

Temperature dependence of electroluminescence (EL) from nanocrystalline Si (nc-Si) has been studied in comparison with that of photoluminescence (PL) from the nc-Si. The similarity is found in the temperature dependence of peak shift between EL and PL excited by ultraviolet light. The blue shift in both peaks is also found when the carrier generation rate is increased. The experimental results are indicative that the peak shifts due to the temperature and the generation rate are based on different mechanisms.

Si nanocrystals formed in SiO2 by high-dose ion implantation and annealing give rise to strong optical absorption and intense photoluminescence (PL). The dose dependence of optical absorption provides evidence for size-dependent quantum confinement in the Si nanocrystals. PL peak energies are nearly independent of dose suggesting that surface or interface states play an important role in PL. Estimates of absorption bandgaps in the nanocrystals are given.

1·54 jim light-emitting erbium-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon films have been fabricated by standard low temperature (200 – 250 °C) PE CVD technique. The films were doped with erbium during the deposition by making use of a new fluorine-containing metalorganic compound Er(HFA)3*DME [where HFA=CF3C(O)CHC(O)CF3, DME=CH3OCH2CH2OCH3]. Photoluminescence spectra of the a-Si(Er):H films were studied within the range 0·6–1·7 pm at both 77 K and 295 K. A photoconductivity was also detected. The photo- to dark conductivity ratio was on the order of 103.

Amorphous silicon-carbon a-Sil-xCx:H films with x in the range 0.3-1 have been deposited by PECVD of SiH4+CH4 and SiH4+C2H2 gas mixtures. Photoluminescence characterizations have been performed, together with optical measurements. The dependence of radiative recombination properties as a function of x and as a function of damage introduced by H+-ion irradiation has been presented and correlated with the changes in the absorption spectra.