High Efficiency Solar Cells With Intrinsic Microcrystalline Silicon Absorbers Deposited At High Rates By Vhf-Pecvd

Intrinsic microcrystalline silicon (mu c-Si:H) was prepared at high deposition rates (R-D) by very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) working at high-pressure high-power (hphP). The material has similar electrical and optical properties as mu c-Si:H material deposited at low rates by low-pressure low-power PECVD, apart from a more pronounced structure in-homogeneity along the growth axis for material deposited on glass substrates. With optimized deposition conditions high efficiency solar cells can be grown with deposition rates of up to 15 angstrom/s without deterioration of the performance as a function of R-D. A high conversion efficiency of 9.8 % was obtained for a single junction Vic-Si:H p-i-n solar cell at a deposition rate of R-D = 11 angstrom/S.