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
- 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, Vol. 71, Issue 13; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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