Etching and passivation effects on boron-doped amorphous silicon carbide p layer of amorphous silicon solar cell by hydrogen treatment using a mercury-sensitized photochemical vapor deposition method

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.119418· OSTI ID:542526

Jang, J H; Lim, K S ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Kusong-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon 305-701 (Korea)

Etching and passivation effects of hydrogen treatment of boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H) film used as a p layer of p-i-n type amorphous silicon based solar cells using a mercury-sensitized photochemical vapor deposition method were investigated. For the hydrogen treatment of the p-layer film, longer p-layer deposition time was needed to obtain the same thickness as for no hydrogen treatment because of hydrogen etching effect. However, the cell performance was improved by {approximately}7{percent} due to an increase in the open circuit voltage (V{sub oc}) and fill factor (FF) although the p-layer thickness was nearly identical in both cases. The increase in the V{sub oc} and FF could be explained by an increase in the built-in potential due to a decrease in the film activation energy. Moreover, the electrical property improvement of the film was well explained by the passivation effect of a SiH{sub 2}/SiH ratio decrease and a hydrogen content increase calculated from Fourier transformed infrared absorption measurements. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 542526
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 71; ISSN 0003-6951; ISSN APPLAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
AMORPHOUS STATE
BORON
BORON ADDITIONS
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
DOPED MATERIALS
ETCHING
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN ADDITIONS
INFRARED SPECTRA
PASSIVATION
SILICON
SILICON CARBIDES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SOLAR CELLS
THIN FILMS