Understanding shunting behavior in hot-wire-deposited amorphous silicon solar cells

Abstract

Articles you may be interested inBeneficial effect of a low deposition temperature of hot-wire deposited intrinsic amorphous silicon for solar cells J. Appl. Phys. 93, 121 (2003); 10.1063/1.1527208Deposition of amorphous and microcrystalline silicon using a graphite filament in the hot wire chemical vapor deposition technique Amorphous and microcrystalline silicon films grown at low temperatures by radio-frequency and hot-wire chemical vapor deposition

Nanostructured thin films for multibandgap silicon triple junction solar cells

“…Details of the cell structures can be found in previous publications [14,18,19]. Doped layers and intrinsic proto-SiGe: H [19] were prepared using 13.56 MHz PECVD, whereas HWCVD was applied to fabricate intrinsic proto-Si:H [13] and nc-Si:H [15,20]. For all hot-wire depositions, two straight Ta filaments with a diameter of 0.5 mm were used, through which a current of 10.5 A was passed, yielding a wire temperature of 1850°C (vacuum calibration).…”

“…A fingerprint of the protocrystalline nature of this material is the narrow width of the first sharp peak in X-ray diffraction (XRD) [21]. The ncSi:H is a so-called mixed phase or transition material, consisting of nanocrystallites in an a-Si:H matrix [13,19]. The Raman ratio of crystallinity for this material is 40% and the crystallites have 10-20 nm sizes [22].…”

“…Specifically, We have developed HWCVD intrinsic protocrystalline silicon (proto-Si:H), which is characterized by an enhanced medium range structural order and a higher stability against light-soaking [11] compared to amorphous silicon, and nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H), with a low density of states [12] at a Raman crystalline ratio of ∼40%. These materials were successfully applied in thin film solar cells on plain stainless steel [13,14]. To enhance the efficiency, multiband-gap structures are required [15].…”

Hot Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition: Recent Progress, Present State of the Art and Competitive Opportunities

“…We also developed HWCVD nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H), which is characterized by a low density of states [21] at a crystalline volume fraction of ~40% as determined by Raman spectroscopy. These materials were first successfully applied in thin film solar cells on plain stainless steel [19,22].…”

“…Progress has been made in establishing stable and reproducible conditions for the hot catalytic wires used for efficient decomposition of the source gases [16]. By choosing appropriate designs for both the deposition chamber geometry as well as the catalyst geometry, and by an appropriate (pre-)treatment of the filaments, filament lifetime issues can be overcome [17][18][19].…”