Effects of RF power and pressure on performance of HF-PECVD silicon thin-film solar cells

作者：Lien Shui Yang^*; Wang Chao Chun; Shen Chau Te; Ou Yu Chih; Cho Yun Shao; Weng Ko Wei; Chao Ching Hsun; Chen Chia Fu; Wuu Dong Sing

来源：Thin Solid Films, 2010, 518(24): 7233-7235.

DOI：10.1016/j.tsf.2010.04.083

• Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition
• Amorphous silicon films
• Thin-film solar cells

High-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (HF-PECVD) is a widely applicable method of deposition over a large area at a high rate for fabricating silicon thin-film solar cells. This investigation presents the properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films and the preparation of highly-efficient p-i-n solar cells using an RF (27.1 MHz) excitation frequency. The influence of the power (10-40 W) and pressure (20-50 Pa) used during the deposition of absorber layers in p-i-n solar cells on the properties and mechanism of growth of the a-Si:H thin films and the solar cells is studied. The a-Si:H thin films prepared under various deposition conditions have widely varying deposition rates, optical-electronic properties and microstructures. When the deposition parameters were optimized, amorphous silicon-based thin-film silicon solar cells with efficiency of 7.6% were fabricated by HF-PECVD. These results are very encouraging for the future fabrication of highly-efficient thin-film solar cells by HF-PECVD.