Some observations on seeding and stability of nc-Si solar cells

Yuan Min Li, John A. Anna Selvan, A. Foustotchenko, Liwei Li, A. E. Delahoy

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We describe a study on the critical seeding step for preparation of nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) p-i-n type solar cells by single-chamber RF-PECVD on native SnO 2 coated glass superstrates. A novel seeding scheme using closed-chamber (CC) plasma has proved effective in eliminating the Si:H incubation layer and reduce optical loss without using ZnO coating. This seeding process does not accumulate a film. Rather, it modifies the surface region of a pre-deposited film. The efficacy of this approach is, however, hindered both by dopant cross-contamination and process sensitivity to the degree of substrate texture. This method is compared with conventional p-layer seeding using non-static plasma which, on ZnO-coated SnO 2, has resulted in 6.5% single cells with ZnO/Al back contact. Also compared is i-layer seeding. Our 'near-the-edge' nc-Si single junction cells show excellent stability under light and in the dark, without post-deposition oxidation. An 8.7% a-Si/nc-Si tandem solar cell (post light soaking) has been confirmed by NREL.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1420-1423
Number of pages4
JournalConference Record of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference
StatePublished - 2005
Externally publishedYes
Event31st IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 2005 - Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States
Duration: Jan 3 2005Jan 7 2005

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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