Thin Solid Films, Vol.403-404, 359-362, 2002
The influence of the amorphous silicon deposition temperature on the efficiency of the ITO/A-Si : H/C-Si heterojunction (HJ) solar cells and properties of interfaces
Some crucial limiting process steps of ITO/(n)a-Si:H/(p)c-Si solar cell manufacturing were investigated. The influence of amorphous silicon deposition temperature on the efficiency of heterojunction (HJ) solar cells as well as ITO deposition on the properties of ITO/a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces were studied. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and SIMS measurements were employed for the investigations. It was observed that the decrease in a-Si:H deposition temperature from 230 down to 100degreesC leads to a reduction in solar cell efficiencies to only 1%. It was found that the ITO deposition process itself can significantly modify the ITO/a-Si:H/c-Si interfaces due to the interaction of oxygen, and In and Sri atoms with silicon at the initial stage. It was concluded that this modification has a more significant impact on the quality of the HJ solar cells than on that of the a-Si:H layer.
Keywords:heterojunction (HJ) solar cells;interfaces;X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS);Raman;SIMS