Advanced amorphous materials for photovoltaic conversion. Annual report for 1983
The task of this program is to fabricate and characterize thin-film amorphous semiconductor photovoltaic devices, and to develop new materials with properties which help to improve the conversion efficiency and stability of the devices. An important goal of the program is to increase the rate of deposition of high-quality semiconducting material in order to make the technology more economical. The materials include intrinsic and doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon and related alloys deposited by rf capacitive glow discharge, and transparent conducting layers such as indium oxide and indium tin oxide. The improvement of deposition rate and the optimization of film properties for device applications require a fundamental understanding of the processes occurring in the glow-discharge plasma and at the surface of the growing film. Techniques such as optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are used to analyze these processes. The prepared films are studied using optical and infrared spectroscopy, electron microscopy, photoconductivity, and photoluminescence. The film properties are then correlated with plasma processing parameters. High-efficiency photovoltaic devices are fabricated in order to test the usefulness of the materials for the different layers of a solar cell, and to explore problems which may occur at the interfaces between these layers. Factors affecting the efficiency and stability of such cells are deduced from an analysis of their electrical characteristics and spectral response.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 6804299
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-51772; ON: DE84017198
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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SILICON SOLAR CELLS
FABRICATION
PERFORMANCE
AMORPHOUS STATE
DEPOSITION
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
GAS ANALYSIS
IMPURITIES
INDIUM OXIDES
INFRARED SPECTRA
PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
SILANES
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
TIN OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDIUM COMPOUNDS
LUMINESCENCE
MATERIALS
MICROSCOPY
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SILICON COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SPECTRA
TIN COMPOUNDS
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion