Structure adjustment during high-deposition-rate growth of microcrystalline silicon solar cells

Mai, Yaohua; Klein, Susanne; Geng, Xin; Finger, F.

doi:10.1063/1.1801676

Cited by 38 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The Ac-Si:H i-layers were deposited by HWCVD with tantalum filaments at a filament temperature T F = 1650 -C and a working pressure p depo of 3 -5 Pa, resulting in a substrate temperature of 185 -C [4]. PECVD ilayers were prepared at 95 MHz plasma excitation frequency with low pressure and low power (lplP, p depo = 0.25 hPa, discharge power P VHF = 10 W), as well as with high pressure and high power (hphP, p depo = 2.1 hPa and P VHF = 60 W) conditions [2,5] hydrogen, was varied in each case to adjust the structure mixture of i-layer material from highly crystalline to amorphous. All solar cells were deposited in p-i-n sequence on 10 Â 10 cm 2 texture-etched ZnO-coated glass substrates [6].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in the structure composition of microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited by HWCVD and PECVD: Influence on open circuit voltage

et al. 2006

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences in the structure composition of microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited by HWCVD and PECVD: Influence on open circuit voltage

et al. 2006

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“…[10][11][12] Recently, also combinations of VHF-PECVD and high working pressure have been investigated. 3,[13][14][15][16][17] In the present paper we report on further studies of such a combination of VHF-PECVD at 94.7 MHz at high working pressures of 2-4 hPa for the growth of c-Si:H at high deposition rates. As high pressure is combined with high discharge power, we shall refer to this deposition regime as high pressure-high power ͑hphP͒ in contrast to the low powerlow pressure ͑lplP͒ conditions in conventional RF-and VHF-PECVD.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited at high rates

Mai

Klein

Carius

et al. 2005

Journal of Applied Physics

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183

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Hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon ͑ c-Si:H͒ thin-film solar cells were prepared at high rates by very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition under high working pressure. The influence of deposition parameters on the deposition rate ͑R D ͒ and the solar cell performance were comprehensively studied in this paper, as well as the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the resulting solar cells. Reactor-geometry adjustment was done to achieve a stable and homogeneous discharge under high pressure. Optimum solar cells are always found close to the transition from microcrystalline to amorphous growth, with a crystallinity of about 60%. At constant silane concentration, an increase in the discharge power did hardly increase the deposition rate, but did increase the crystallinity of the solar cells. This results in a shift of the c-Si:H/a-Si:H transition to higher silane concentration, and therefore leads to a higher R D for the optimum cells. On the other hand, an increase in the total flow rate at constant silane concentration did lead to a higher R D , but lower crystallinity. With this shift of the c-Si:H/a-Si:H transition at higher flow rates, the R D for the optimum cells decreased. A remarkable structure development along the growth axis was found in the solar cells deposited at high rates by a "depth profile" method, but this does not cause a deterioration of the solar cell performance apart from a poorer blue-light response. As a result, a c-Si:H single-junction p-i-n solar cell with a high efficiency of 9.8% was deposited at a R D of 1.1 nm/s.

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“…The requirement for excess atomic H flux (H/Si flux) to film surface for lc-Si deposition was pointed-out by many studies [5,6,35,36] but excess H has also an important role in the gas phase where it leads to fast gas-phase reaction rates (50-80 times higher than DE rates) depleting SiH x (x = 2-4) down to SiH and Si.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma Composition by Mass Spectrometry in a Ar-SiH4-H2 LEPECVD Process During nc-Si Deposition

Moiseev

Chrastina

Isella

2011

Plasma Chem Plasma Process

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Mass spectrometry has been used to assess plasma composition during a lowenergy plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (LEPECVD) process using argonsilane-hydrogen (Ar-SiH 4 -H 2 ) gas mixtures with input flows of 50 sccm Ar, 2-20 sccm SiH 4 and 0-50 sccm H 2 at total pressures of 1-4 Pa. Energy-integrated ion densities, residual gas analysis and threshold ionization mass spectrometry have been used to characterize the transition from amorphous (a-Si) to nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) deposition at constant LEPECVD operating parameters. While relative ion densities have a marked decrease with H 2 input, the densities of SiH x (x \ 4) radicals show evolution trends depending on the SiH 4 and H 2 input. For conditions leading to nc-Si growth a turning point is reached above which SiH is the main radical. Observed SiH x density trends with H 2 input are explained based on kinetic reaction rates calculated from previously obtained Langmuir probe data.

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Structure adjustment during high-deposition-rate growth of microcrystalline silicon solar cells

Cited by 38 publications

References 19 publications

Differences in the structure composition of microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited by HWCVD and PECVD: Influence on open circuit voltage

Differences in the structure composition of microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited by HWCVD and PECVD: Influence on open circuit voltage

Microcrystalline silicon solar cells deposited at high rates

Plasma Composition by Mass Spectrometry in a Ar-SiH4-H2 LEPECVD Process During nc-Si Deposition

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