Applications of microcrystalline hydrogenated cubic silicon carbide for amorphous silicon thin film solar cells

We demonstrated the fabrication of n-i-p type amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film solar cells using phosphorus doped microcrystalline cubic silicon carbide (mu c-3C-SiC:H) films as a window layer. The Hot-wire CVD method and a covering technique of titanium dioxide TiO2 on TCO was utilized for the cell fabrication. The cell configuration is TCO/TiO2/n-type mu c-3C-SiC:H/intrinsic a-Si:H/p-type mu c- SiCx (a-SiCx:H including mu c-Si:H phase)/Al. Approximately 4.5% efficiency with a V-oc of 0.953 V was obtained for AM-1.5 light irradiation. We also prepared a cell with the undoped a-Si-1_C-x(x):H film as a buffer layer to improve the n/i interface. A maximum V-oc of 0.966 V was obtained. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.