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High‐efficiency thin‐film silicon solar cells with improved light‐soaking stability
Author(s) -
Matsui Takuya,
Sai Hitoshi,
Saito Kimihiko,
Kondo Michio
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
progress in photovoltaics: research and applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.286
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1099-159X
pISSN - 1062-7995
DOI - 10.1002/pip.2300
Subject(s) - plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition , materials science , amorphous silicon , silicon , chemical vapor deposition , microcrystalline silicon , substrate (aquarium) , solar cell , tandem , energy conversion efficiency , diode , analytical chemistry (journal) , thin film , optoelectronics , crystalline silicon , chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , chromatography , geology , oceanography
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a‐Si : H) films are prepared by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with a triode electrode configuration in which a SiH 4 –H 2 glow‐discharge plasma is confined spatially away from the substrate. Although the deposition rate (0.1–0.5 Å/s) is lower than that of the conventional diode PECVD process (2.5 Å/s), the light‐induced degradation in conversion efficiency (Δ η / η ini ) of a single‐junction solar cell is substantially reduced (e.g., Δ η / η ini ~ 10% at an absorber thickness of t i = 250 nm), and efficiencies after light soaking (LS) maintain >9% for t i = 180–390 nm. By applying the improved a‐Si : H layers as top cell absorbers in a‐Si : H/hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (µc‐Si : H) tandem solar cells, the light‐induced degradation can be reduced further (e.g., Δ η / η ini ~ 5% at t i = 250 nm). As a result, we obtain confirmed stabilized efficiencies of 9.6% (LS condition: 100 mW/cm 2 , 50 °C, 1000 h) and 11.9% (LS condition: 125 mW/cm 2 , 48 °C, 310 h) for a‐Si : H single‐junction and a‐Si : H/µc‐Si : H tandem solar cells, respectively. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.