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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Improved amorphous Si solar cells. Quarterly progress report No. 5, February 1-April 30, 1981

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5516163· OSTI ID:5516163
Both n and p-type a-Si:H films with very high conductivities have been grown by diluting SiH/sub 4/ in Ar or H/sub 2/. These films have Fermi levels close to the conduction and valence bands (0.03 eV). The use of these heavily doped films as p/sup +/ and n/sup +/ junction layers in a p/sup +/in/sup +/ cell should increase the diffusion voltage of the diode, thereby increasing both J/sub sc/ and V/sub oc/. The analysis of conductivity and thermoelectric power on films of diverse thickness have revealed no systematic changes. However, the drift mobility shows a systematic increase with thickness. The analysis of cells by studying quantum efficiency vs. applied voltage has revealed the electron (..mu.. tau) product is limiting transport in nip cells and not the hole (..mu.. tau) product. Analysis reveals that typically (..mu.. tau)/sub eta/ = 10/sup -9/ cm/sup 2//V. A new device design, Tandem parallel-connected cells, has been evolved to improve the current collection in a-Si cells. This design may help increase J/sub sc/ to 15 to 16 mA/cm/sup 2/ in a-Si:H.
Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA); Delaware Univ., Newark (USA). Inst. of Energy Conversion
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-77CH00178
OSTI ID:
5516163
Report Number(s):
SERI/PR-9195-1-T3; ON: DE82006886
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English