Wide-Gap Thin Film Si n-i-p Solar Cells Deposited by Hot-Wire CVD: Preprint

Conference · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190828· OSTI ID:15006977

Wang, Q; Iwaniczko, E; Yang, J; Lord, K; Guha, S; Wang, K; Han, D

High-voltage wide bandgap thin-film Si n-i-p solar cells have been made using the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) technique. The best open-circuit voltage (Voc) has exceeded 0.94 V in solar cells using HWCVD in the entire n-i-p structure. A Voc of 0.97V has been achieved using HWCVD in the n and i layers and plasma-enhanced (PE) CVD for the p layer. The high voltages are attributed to the wide-gap i layer and an improved p/i interface. The wide-gap i layer is obtained by using low substrate temperatures and sufficient hydrogen dilution during the growth of the i layer to arrive at the amorphous-to-microcrystalline phase transition region. The optical band gap (E04) of the i layer is found to be 1.90 eV. These high-voltage cells also exhibit good fill factors exceeding 0.7 with short-circuit-current densities of 8 to 10 mA/cm2 on bare stainless steel substrates. We have also carried out photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy studies and found a correlation between Voc and the PL peak energy position.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-99GO10337
• OSTI ID: 15006977
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-520-31474
• Resource Type: Conference paper/presentation
• Conference Information: Conference title not supplied, Conference location not supplied, Conference dates not supplied; Prepared for the 29th IEEE PV Specialists Conference, 20-24 May
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
14 SOLAR ENERGY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DILUTION
FILL FACTORS
HOT-WIRE CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (HWCVD)
HYDROGEN
OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE (PL)
PLASMA-ENHANCED (PE)
PV
SHORT-CIRCUIT-CURRENT DENSITIES
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR ENERGY
SOLAR ENERGY - PHOTOVOLTAICS
SPECTROSCOPY
STAINLESS STEELS
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
VOLATILE MATTER
WIDE-GAP THIN FILM